Tempo Run Wednesday

I've really come to enjoy these little bugger of runs. I can't exactly explain why, it's not an easy workout and sometimes I really have to fight the breathing cramps away. But I have such a sense of accomplishment after I get off the treadmill, having sweat half my body weight off, knowing that I've just gone "balls to the wall" for 30, 45, 50 minutes....

Betcha can't guess what kind of training run I did today =)

I awoke to -yet again- another morning of rain and cold temperatures (Seriously, Charlotte, get back to Spring!). I ate my warm oatmeal/almond butter breakfast on the couch with my dog and a blanket- that seemed to make things happier. Since I had the morning off (didn't have to go into work until after lunch) I was pretty lazy but did manage to get to the gym by 9:00 for my 45 minute tempo run.

I didn't know what a tempo run was until I read Hal's description in his half-marathon training plan. And even that was a little scant. But Runner's World does a great job describing what a tempo run is and about a bazillion different articles. This one is particularly helpful. Let me see if I can summarize:

The tempo run helps your body (and psychi) to understand and maintain a faster speed over a longer distance. Basically, this training makes your body use your oxygen more efficiently. Working muscles (such as running) creates lactic acid to build up. The lactic acid waits for your body to bring in oxygen to carry it away (metabolize it). If you have more lactic acid than your body can metabolize, you've passed your lactate threshold. That's why you get sore after a harder than normal run- there's lactic acid left over in your muscles. Tempo runs help you to raise your lactate threshold (in other words, your body uses oxygen more efficiently to metabolizes the acid faster).

So back to the gym: I situated myself on the treadmill, threaded my earphones through my shirt (gggaaaaahhh I need wireless headphones!!), started the belt and pushed play on Sir Nike+. I did a 10 minute warm up around 5.5 mph, then spent the next 10 minutes getting up to 6.5 and held it for 10 minutes, then gradually cranked it up to 7.0 (5 minutes), held 7 mph for 5 minutes, then jogged a 5.5 mph cool down for 5 minutes. I think that equals 45 minutes?? So...

10 minutes @ 5.5
10 minutes speeding up to 6.5
10 minutes @ 6.5
5 minutes speeding up to 7
5 minutes @ 7
5 minutes @ 5.5

Thrilling, no? =) I most definitely felt challenged for the 5 minutes I was going "balls to the wall!" The workout resulted in 4.78 miles in 45 minutes.

Runner's World Pace Calculator claims that for this pace and speed, my projected half marathon time would be 2:11. Le sigh....


For the readers out there: have any song suggestions for hot and heavy runs where you *almost* feel like you're about to puke your guts out? I'm making a 'balls to the wall' playlist...

And yes, I've said "balls to the wall" three four times now!! I think it's time for bed =)

Pad Thai (and some running)

Last night I made the most wonderfully delicious dish in my entire life. I seriously had my doubts, but this meal turned out beautifully! And it all started with a little bag of inspiration from TJ's:


I'm in love with pad thai, and even though we've found a family owned sushi restaurant that makes it for dirt cheap, I wanted to try my hand at this dish. So I did some research on a few different recipes, made a grocery list, and came up with this:


At the last minute, I decided to go with store made peanut sauce instead of trying to make my own. Fish sauce, rice vinegar, Asian chili sauce... all this stuff kind of frightened me so I took the easy way out. Maybe next time I'll make it from scratch. So the ingredients for this thing:

8 oz rice noodles
Peanut Sauce (or some other kind of Pad Thai sauce)
EVOO
lemon grass, prepared (purely optional, I had some in the freezer so I used it)
lime juice
tofu, drained, dried and cubed
1/4 cup corn meal (white or yellow)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup sliced shrooms
1 cup shelled edamames, cooked
1 cup chopped broccoli
3-4 eggs (more or less, or none, depending on whether or not you like eggs)

The veggie portion of the meal is completely flexible. If you like it in stir fry, throw it in! A lot of recipes call for bean sprouts, but I didn't want to use them. I also don't like green onions, so I omitted those too. With out further ado...

How to make life changing Pad Thai:
Prepare rice noodles according to package. Set aside.

Put drained, dried and cubed tofu in large ziplock bag. Add 1/4 cup cornmeal and toss, coating all sides. Cook in large skillet over high heat with EVOO until light brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

In same skillet, add a little cooking spray and scramble eggs. Be sure you don't over cook. Transfer to separate plate and cut into pieces.

In large skillet, heat EVOO on medium high heat and add onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes and then add tofu. Add prepared lemon grass stalks (2 inch pieces that you mash up a little. You don't actually eat the lemon grass, it's just there for flavor).


Cook tofu, onion and lemongrass for another 3-4 minutes. Add carrots and broccoli. Admire how pretty it all is =)


Then add the mushrooms, edamame, eggs and cabbage. Cook for another few minutes. Add the rice noodles and stir. Then add about 1/2 cup peanut sauce mixed with about a tablespoon lime juice. Stir until perfection.


Top with chopped peanuts. Then tell your pad thai to jump into your belly and be happy!


Do you have any pad thai recipe suggestions?


Now on to running....

I got a quick run in this morning at the gym. I awoke to sounds of rain, which is really quite relaxing unless it's Monday morning and 32 degrees outside =( To the gym it was! My training schedule said "8 x hill" for today, so I did a 12 ish minute warm up and then: 90 seconds at 7% + 90 second at 0% for 8 times. I wrapped it all up with a 5 minute jog/cool down, bid au revoir to the old men and came home to get ready for work.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday!

Crack!

A few days ago I had my first chiropractic experience. My running buddy is married to a chiropractor (best.marriage.ever!) and has been dropping hints that I should go see him since we met... almost two years ago! I never gave it much thought, especially since I was running and feeling great. Until.... my knee started to go wonky (yes, that is a technical term). Having been through the surgery, PT, recovery process before, I will GLADLY do anything that might help my body heal and be on my way.

So at my initial appointment, he took some x-rays and did some diagnostics. Apparently, I've been favoring my right knee ever since my first knee surgery, thus adding extra stress to my entire left side. Translation: all that compensating I've been doing is starting to catch up with my body.

Everything he said made sense. But it can all be summed up in this: the body needs to be in alignment and when it's out of alignment, things get bad. I feel like I've started to hit a wall as far as my running is concerned. I'm slowly getting faster (as contradicting as that sounds), but my aches keep me from going further. If he can "readjust" me and I can run better, then I'm game!

At that first visit, he cracked (sorry, they hate that term... "adjusted") my entire back and ankles. He also worked on the tightness behind my knees and (surprisingly) found that my surgery knee has a lot of scar tissue and is pretty tight.

Now I'm one of those people that can crack myself (haha)- just ask my family. They hate it when I crack my neck and back. For this reason, I've never been convinced that I could actually benefit from going to a chiropractor. But after he finished, I felt taller and lighter. I felt stronger. And as strange as it might sound, I could "feel" my bones in my back. I also had no pain in either knee.

And then two days later I ran 13 miles and messed it all up again!! =) Guess he'll have his work cut out for him tomorrow!


Will you answer my questions? Pretty please?? =)
Have you ever been to a chiropractor? What have your experiences been?


Any other sports doctors you frequent?

There's nothing like a long run...

This morning I pounded out an awesome 13.1 miles!! It's been 3 weeks and 3 days since my last long run and I was starting to wonder if I still "had it." I know that's silly - of course I'm still capable of doing a long run. But there's such a huge difference between knowing you can run long and actually doing a long run.

You know what I mean?

Since today had a forecast of cold and rainy (40's, which is cold to southern girl!) I tried to get out as early as I could to beat the rain. As I was driving to my trail, I tried some watermelon Gu Chomps I found yesterday at REI. I'm sure they would have tasted better if I hadn't just brushed my teeth! Regardless, I think I might switch from Bloks to Chomps (hehe, that sounds funny). Not sure what the statistics are of runners choking on Bloks, but I'm bound to be one of them if I keep eating them!

I tried to keep my pace around 10:15 the whole time (except the warm up mile). I ended up running the first 5 miles without stopping - a new high for me!! When I did stop, it was to take a mocha flavored Clif Shot. The last time I took a Gu, the gag reflex registered around 9.99. I was completely surprised that the gag-o-meter for the Clif Shot was so much lower - maybe a 3? It was like swallowing jello that had been mixed with pudding. Is there some secret Runner's Code that says all runners must act like they enjoy taking gels/gu's/shots, but secretly everyone hates them? I mean, does anyone truly enjoy taking these things?

I immediately felt the effects of this coffee flavored goo, the most prominent one being that my breath smelled like I had eaten old cat food and chased it down with a shot of expresso. Aside from that, I felt way more energized and was able to pick up the pace again for the next 4 miles.

My mileage read 12.6 miles when I got back to my car, but I couldn't just leave it there. I ran around for another half mile to get 13.1 under my feet. I finished in 2:14:58, which is only about a minute slower than my Gainesville Half. If my training run is around the same time as my last race, that means there's been some speed improvement, right? RIGHT?!?! (this speed stuff is slow going...)


I realized during this run I've improved on a few other things. For example:

• I can now run for nearly 45 minutes without stopping.
• I no longer have to stop for the farmers blow. tip: check your blind spots before performing said act
• I can run AND drink at the same time! And get most of it in my mouth and not down my shirt.
  
• I can do all sorts of dances while running (for self entertainment, it gets boring by yourself). My moves include: Electric Slide, MJ's Thriller dance, the Macarena and John Travolta's disco move (does that count?)
• I can get the perfect spin on my spit, whereas before it would just end up on my foot/arm/shoulder.
• Running in the cold no longer scares me.
• That knee that I had surgery on, like twice? Feels.AWESOME!

And the most improved thing about my running?

I really enjoy doing it. I know some people think that goes without saying, but it's not always fun at first. And sometimes, we just have runs that make us feel awful. But I've been having consistently good runs lately. And no, it's not because I'm awesome (great song, btw). I really enjoy getting out there and away from myself. Why do runners run? If you have to ask, you just won't understand.

Busy day made perfect with almond butter

Whew what a day! I got a run in this morning, had two back to back meetings (have I mentioned I'm in the process of starting a NPO?), led an excruciatingly painful workshop with middle schoolers who have waaaaay too many hormones running through them, and made a new best friend (helllooo Almond Butter, where have you been all my life?). I also had my first appointment with a chiropractor, but I'll save that for another post (tomorrow?).

Alas, I digress. Since this is a running/health blog, I'll try to focus more on the running and health and not so much on the fluting and kiddos.

So I set the alarm pretty early so I could get to the gym for my weekly tempo run before my day started. Since most of my 'professional' life consists of afternoon/evening work, I've gotten out of the habit of early rising. But I gotta admit, getting my sweat on with all the old men at the gym was a nice change. (Seriously, I was the only double X chromosome there, I was also the only person under the age of 60).

So on the training schedule for the day was a 45 minute tempo run. I did my typical 10 minute warm up, then took 15 minutes getting up to 6.8, 15 minutes at 6.8, then a 5 minute 'cool down.' Now if my speed isn't getting any better, my endurance sure is!

Total numbers (this looks strangely similar to Tuesday): 4.6 miles in 44:27. I know, it was suppose to be a 45 minute tempo run...

Now on to my new best friend. I found this jar of heaven while at Trader Joe's last weekend. I was in love after just one taste. So far, I've put this delicious spread in oatmeal, on toast with banana slices, atop cinnamon graham crackers (yuuuum!), and with apples. Peanut butter: I love you, but I'm afraid I might be stepping out on you.

I'm thinking my next almond butter experiment might involve cupcakes. What do you think? What's your favorite way to eat almond butter?

I think I figured it out...

Intervals!! I think I understand... (please bear with me, I'm *new* to this speedwork stuff). So up until recently, I thought "running intervals" meant running as fast as you could for a certain distance, and then walking off the nausea.

BUT- today I tried something different. After a leisurely warm up, I did my first quarter mile interval, but kept it in check for an 8:30 pace. Then I jogged the 90 second recovery. Rinse and repeat 7 more times.

By the time I was finished, I felt like I had a decent workout. Maybe I could have done a few more repeats, but there was never a point where I was running so hard I felt like I was going to up-chuck. There was only one interval where I dropped slower than 9:00, but that was up a hill so I'm going to forgive myself on that one. These were my splits: 8:34 / 8:25 / 8:41 / 9:07 / 8:36 / 8:16 / 8:20 / 8:08.

Even with a really slow warm up and cool down, I still nailed 4.4 miles in 43:22. Any pace under 10 makes me happy =)


Any advice you guys have for running intervals? Or speedwork in general??

A Pace Run, but mostly pictures....

Happy Monday!! Today I attempted a pace run. I think that's just another way of saying- a run that follows a certain pace. I didn't want to overdo it because yesterday I did leg/hip/core strengthening and tomorrow I've got intervals lined up. I tried to warm up with a slow 10:30-10:45 pace and then keep a 9:45-10:00 pace for the rest. It kind of worked:


I went to my trusted hill route, which is a loop that can be varied to give more or less distance. I actually strayed from my typical long loop/short loop and explored a new side road. It was a gradual uphill for almost a mile (see the lovely pace for mile 3?). And as usual, I tried to sprint my last leg of my run - which ended up being .57 miles @ 8:49.

This was really the first time I've tried to think about my pace while running (usually I just push play and I'm off). It's really annoying to have to look at my Garmin every 30 seconds to see if I'm too fast/slow. I guess it'll take a little more practice...

As I was doing my cool down walk/jig, I saw this guy chillin...

Ok, so he's not very exciting but I had a camera so what the heck, I took a picture. Just wait until the killer geese come back. I'll have to take a video of those beasts.


I'm also having a hard time getting near these trees and not having the urge to start gagging. Stupid pretty flowering tree and your stupid, sweet smelling blooms that flew into my lungs during Saturday's 5k! PS- can you see the goose poop on the sidewalk?

It was kind of gloomy here in the morning (made for a great, cool run) but the sun came out briefly in the afternoon, so I took Max outside to enjoy some sunshine while I ate lunch.


Last night's left overs over a bed of spinach with half a cheese quesadilla. Can you say, "OM NOM NOM NOM!!!!!"?

And last but not least, I will end this picture heavy post with the view of my kitchen window. I heart tulips!

Running Blogs turns into Food Blog!!

Yep, I'm jumping on the band wagon. I just can't keep my food to myself anymore- I've got to share my favorite recipes on here. Plus, I figure this will maybe double my viewership- running AND food? So without further ado...

Quinoa and Black Beans, Ole!

I've been reading a lot about quinoa lately (I refuse to pronounce it any other way than "qwe-noa") and decided it try it out a few weeks ago. Round one wasn't so great (it was more the recipe than the quinoa) but my second attempt had much better results!!

Here are all the ingredients:


You'll notice that there are products from three different grocery stores. Now, before you label me a grocery store whore, let me say that we've moved around a lot in the past year, so I've tried out each store a few times. Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Trader Joes (and that's in order of least favorite to favorite!).

You'll need:
Vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic (or you can be lazy like me and use garlic in a jar)
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (this stuff really scares me, so I only used 1/16th of a teaspoon)
1 cup frozen corn kernels (or canned corn)
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Optional:
zucchini, chopped
shredded cabbage
avocado

1. Heat oil in medium saucepan and cook onion and garlic until brown.


2. Make sure you have a dog handy for party fouls. Max cleaned up some onion for me. I trained him to know when he hears, "Ooops" there's a clean up job to do in the kitchen.


3. Add quinoa, veggie broth, cumin, and cayenne. You can add salt and pepper if you want, but I don't think that really adds much. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.


4. While quinoa mixture is cooking, chop zucchini and cilantro.

5. Add zucchini, cilantro, corn, and black beans.


Serve topped with shredded cabbage.


Not pictured: guacamole, tortilla chips, and a nice cold beer. Delicious! I'll add more cumin the next time I make this delightful dish, and if I'm brave- more cayenne. But for as healthy and protein packed as this is, it tasted pretty darn awesome!

Ok, running returns for tomorrow....

New Personal "Improvement!"

Well it was a GORGEOUS day here in Charlotte yesterday- dare I say a PERFECT day for a 5k! The Honda caravan arrived at Highland Creek Elementary (AKA- the start line) with plenty of time to pick up our timing chips, make multiple visits to the restrooms (one cup of coffee or 4, it really makes no difference!), and do a sufficient warm up jog.

There were about 450 runners of all ages. Just enough people to make it exciting, but not so many that the start chutes clog up and take 5 minutes to get through.

I was on my own from pretty much the start. I did a fare amount of passing for the first half mile.

The course? Imagine all the hills of Thunder Road, but squeezed into a 5k. Yeah. Not a very PR friendly course. I don't think there was ONE stretch that was flat. Notta one! They weren't particularly steep or long hills, but they were one after another. It was either uphill or downhill.

I started pretty fast. In fact, I ran my fastest mile EVER at the beginning: 8:54! Dayum!! Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) I wasn't able to keep that pace up. My second mile was 9:17, my third was 9:27, and the last .1 miles was 7:34. The course went through the hilly Highland Creek neighborhood, which was full of beautiful blooming trees. These blooming trees were losing their blooms, and as I was gasping for air running up a hill around mile 2, I inhaled one of these blooms. It was the only time during the entire race I almost horked. Dis.gusting!

As I was coming up the hilly return road, I just had to take a walk break (I don't consider my first walk a break because I was gagging on a flower). When I looked at my Garmin, it read 23 minutes for 2.6 miles. That's when I knew a 28 something minute time was within reach. I ran as fast as my white legs would carry me and.... finished in 28:34!!!!!

I don't think I can really consider this a personal record. I mean, yes it's the fastest I've run a 5k ever, but I've never trained like this before either. To say I was going into this run expecting a PR sounds a like cocky. I went into this race knowing that I was in better shape and more prepared than any other time in my life, so I expected my time to improve. Thus, I'm going to call this a PI- "Personal Improvement."


I'm especially proud of mile 1 =) Going back to RW's Pace Calculator, a 28:34 5k time projects a 2:11 HM finish. That's about 4 minutes faster than my HM in February. I'm slowly going in the right direction for getting faster I guess. If I can continue to shave off 4 minutes each month and find a little extra luck on race day, I *might* be able to come close to 2 hours for the Hickory Half??


Look at my hubby, the Rock Star! This was his first 5k - I'm so proud of him!! He made the mistake of telling me he wants to do another one to see if he can improve his time. Well, well, well... I think we can work that out!!


David is wearing the race shirt from this year. It's black and made out of that fancy sweat wicking material. Material = good. Color = bad. A black shirt on a hot day... hmmm. I'm wearing my 'official race shirt' that my mom-in-law gave me during football season. Also notice that David is missing a bib number? Guess who forgot to put it on before we left the house? Men... ya gotta hold their hands all the time!! (he'll never read this so I feel safe in poking fun!! I love you honey :D ).

Pre-Race Meal

As I said last night, I went to go pick up our race packets today at the running store next to Trader Joes. My running buddy (whom I haven't run with since Thunder Road) came with me. I was secretly hoping she would get caught up in the race excitement and decide to register on spot.

Guess what? I should SO be a car salesman because I got her to sign up!!! So now it will be me, hubby and my best running buddy! While we were at Run for Your Life, I found out a little info on local running groups. One is near the University and one is up at Davidson. Both will be a 20 minute drive, but it might be worth it to find some people to run with. I'll have to work on getting out of my shell to join though!

We did visit Trader Joes, which was right next door. I haven't been to TJ since we moved, but I forgot how awesome it is! A lot of their food (produce, dry grocery, frozen foods) are cheaper than where I normally grocery shop. I might have to plan trips out there more often!

I picked up some frozen tuna steak chunks (for $3/lb!), which inspired tonight's meal: grilled corn and tuna kabobs!


Grilled corn with butter and smoked paprika, tuna/red onion/red pepper kabobs, and carrots on a stick (just because I had them and I was curious to see what they tasted like). We put a tree's worth of hickory chips in the grill, so this meal tasted like HEAVEN! We even let the doggy finish cleaning our ears of corn.

And of course everyone knows what you have to do after you eat corn on the cob: practice good dental hygiene!


Is my dog the only dog on the Earth that enjoys having his teeth brushed? He practically jumps on my lap and rolls over so he can chew on the toothbrush. Weirdo. Then we relaxed on the couch to catch up on Outsourced and The Office.

It's a good thing he's not spoiled, though.

So I guess I'll call it an early night. Gotta rest up for my 5k PR tomorrow!

Happy Beer St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Did you doing anything special to celebrate?

David and I went out to a local Irish pub, Galway Hookers (not to be confused with Sir James Galway, famous pop flutist), to meet up with some friends of ours. We weren't expected a block party! Galway was overflowing, so we ended up hanging out outside a martini bar next door that was selling $3 domestics (hmmm....). I'm more of an import girl myself, but we made do. We chatted for a little over an hour and then came home. So much for partying it up!

But, as Jim Gaffigan put it, "I always imagine St Patrick is looking down today thinking, “What are they doing? I didn’t even drink!”

So on to the running stuff.... I ran what I now consider to be my favorite workout at the gym: the tempo run. This time I bumped it to 40 minutes and topped out at 6.8 mph (which is like, 8:50/mile?).

10 minutes warm up at 5.8
10 minutes getting up to 6.8
10 minutes holding 6.8
10 minutes at 6
= 4.06 miles

I should be happy that I have enough endurance to run for 40 minutes straight, but I want to be faster, and I want to be faster NOW! (you can't see it, but I'm pouting). I did, however, really enjoy the run. Especially when Thriller came on and I tried to do the dance. On the treadmill. Probably better that I don't try to dance while running on the treadmill.

I'm really looking forward to this 5k on Saturday- it's the first 5k I've done since last September (when I started getting back into running). My time for that was 32:54. I know I can definitely beat that! I'd be happy with something in the 28 minute range, but again I have no idea where I'll be at! I know I'm perfectly capable of a 9 minute mile, but then again I've struggled to get a 10:30 mile before.

So tomorrow I'll pick up our race packets at the running store, which happens to be conveniently located next to Trader Joe's....yes, I think I'll do some grocery shopping too! ;)

'Mill hills

This post is going to be on the shorter side, sorry folks. Gotta get to work!

Yesterday I woke up to an entirely uninspiring overcast, chilly morning. I think having a few days of 70 degree weather makes it even harder to be motivated to get out there and run when it goes back down to 40 (with rain). So I decided to skip my morning run and make it up in the evening when hubby and I went to the gym.

It was a struggle to actually leave the house, especially in the rain. But alas, we got there and I started the treadmill for my terribly uninspired run. Turned out ok: 35 minutes for 3.3 miles. I tried to replicate the hill sprints on the machine. Here's what I got:

10 minutes warm up @ 6 mph
7 x 90 sec at 7% incline with 2:00 rest in between, all at 5.5 mph
5 minutes cool down

I followed this with some core/ab work, stretching, and an ice down of my knee.

Now on to the exciting news! I've registered for a 5k race this Saturday, and guess WHO decided would register and run it too? Daaaaavid =) I asked him if he wanted to come do the 1 mile family fun walk after I ran the 5k, and he completely surprised me by saying, "why don't I do the 5k too?" He's been running here and there, but has also been going to the gym on a very consistent basis.

We're going to do the Run the Creek 5k, which benefits a nonprofit organization that helps kids with terminal illness (they're in the process of becoming 501c3, and man oh man can I sympathize with that process!). The race is also sponsored by our church, Mecklenburg CC, has a 9:00 am start time (sweet), and is practically right in our backyard. Win win win!

And the best part about doing this race? I don't have to taper!!!


Any of you guys out there doing races this month?

Monday Morning 10k

I had an awesome, kick butt run this morning! I was worried about how my knee would act since yesterday it was so abnormally aggravating. But aside from some shin muscle soreness, everything felt great.

The first 2 miles were a little slow going. I almost decided to cut the run short because my legs were so tired and I was getting breathing cramps (something I don't usually get anymore when I run at an easy pace). I'm glad I kept on though, because things seemed to straighten themselves out after another 5-10 minutes.

I was really enjoying the spring flowers and blooms. This route is decorated with blooming trees and bushes! One of these days I'll have to bring a camera with me to document it all.

I was almost up to 6 miles as I finished my last loop, but kind of ran around for another .2 miles so I could say I ran 10k. My time wasn't stellar for this run, but it's one of my fastest 10k's so far. That's an improvement, right?


Clearly, I still have no idea how to properly pace myself. See how mile 2 was slower than my warm up mile? Or that I had two freak sub-10 minute miles in there? I've gotta get his figured out...

The handy Training Calculator on RW says I need to be able to do 10k in 54:26 (for a sub 2 hour HM finish). Guess I've still got some work to do =)

Weekend Recap

The weather is gorgeous today in Charlotte, so I'm lounging out on the back patio with Max and a Mocking Bird, listening to my neighbors yell and scream at their TVs (UNC vs Duke), while my own husband yells and screams at his (Florida vs. Kentucky).

It must be basketball season here in ACC land. (I'm more of an SEC football girl myself).

Yesterday was an interval run for me. I've long learned my lesson about a proper warm up, and have found that I need at least a mile before I can push myself. Using my handy Garmin, I warmed up for 1 mile, ran seven 400 intervals with two minutes of rest in between, followed by about a .5 mile cool down.


As this table shows, my 400's were nowhere close to being the same. I think I've been going about this whole interval speedowrk the wrong way. I thought the point was to run as hard as you could for a quarter mile and then walk off the fatigue induced nausea before repeating. Now I'm wondering if I should slow my repeats down to a true(r) 5k pace and try to jog the recovery. According to Runner's World training calculator, a sub-2 hour half requires (suggests) a 26:06 5k finish. So my targeted 5k pace would around 8:30/mile.

When I got home, I did some serious foam rolling and stretching and took the pooch for a walk.

After eating another fabulous homemade omelet breakfast, hubby and I went to the gym where I did a 'recovery' cross-training workout of 30 minutes on the stationary bike. When I got off, my knee was swollen like nobody's business (this knee has been aggravating me lately, or perhaps it's the other way around), so I did some upper body work and spent the rest of the time stretching.

Which brings us back to the backyard patio, where I'm watching the squirrels and birds prance right under Max's nose (being a blind JRT is tough).



(I've been doing some rearranging and cleaning up on my blog, thanks for being patient! Check out the Current Training page, there's stuff there now!!)

Another tempo run and a give away

My schedule has gone a little awry this week. I was suppose to do:

Monday: 3 miles + strengthening
Tuesday: speedwork (7 x 400)
Thursday: 10 miler

I did:
Monday: nadda
Tuesday: 4.5 miles on Crowders Mountain
Wednesday: nadda
Thursday (today): 40 minute tempo run

I figured since I've got a decent amount of long runs under my proverbial belt that I would do some speed work instead. I also didn't think I would benefit much from a longer run since I haven't put in a true run since... last Saturday. Eeek!

So off to the gym I headed this morning, which was really quite convenient seeing as how Charlotte has seen enough rain in the past 24 hours to make the concrete soggy. My goal was to do a 40 minute tempo run. Here's what went down:

10 minute warm up at 5.5
10 minutes building up to 6.5
10 minutes holding 6.5 (uuuuuugggggghhhh!)
5 minutes at 6
5 minutes cooling down from 6 to 5

Again, I felt like this tempo run gave me an excellent work out. There was never a point where I felt like I was going to die, but I definitely felt challenged for those 10 minutes that I held the faster pace. I think for my next tempo run, I'll try to put in 3-4 minutes at speed 7.

In other news, I've entered my very first blog-giveaway! Woohoo! I'm slowly evolving into a blogger. Meg at Watch MeGo Run is giving away a pair of yurbuds and well, I think my ears would benefit from them. Also, you should go read her blog because she's funny!

In other other news, this came in the mail yesterday.

That's right, I'm a proud, 1st time owner of a Mac. I've used Windows my entire life, so the transition has been a little slow going. But I think I'm gradually being converted to a Mac OS lover.

Plus, my new computer can take pictures! So of course this is what I tried first:


Which then led to a family portrait:


Which made me realize: it's SO hard to get a dog to focus on a camera, especially when he's partially blind!

Crowders Mountain... again!

After moving to the Carolina's, I quickly became obsessed with mountains. I think my fascination for elevation came from growing up in pancake land Florida where there aren't even hills, let alone mountains. We've taken a handful of trips out to Western NC, but for something a little closer to Charlotte, there is Crowders Mountain. I absolutely LOVE this place!

So today I took a friend (we met at U. of Florida, now she's at Duke) with me to hike Crowders. Now I was suppose to do intervals today, but I'm hoping the hill work we did can take its place??? It was a gorgeous day, and we had a clear view of Uptown from the top.

Charlotte is behind my right shoulder. Can you see it?

While I might not have gotten my interval work in today, I got some serious rock climbing done!
(I apologize for my blindingly pale legs)

Elevation Chart ^

Our final time.

So, are you a mountains or beach person?

Breakfast of Champions!

I know this isn't a food blog, but please bear with me for one post: I made the most delicious breakfast in the whole world this morning! I was so proud of it that I just had to take a picture and share with you all! Does this mean I'm turning into an official 'blogger?'


As per our usual Sunday morning routine, the three of us (me, husband + dog) slept in and had brunch instead of breakfast/lunch. For some reason, I've been craving eggs lately. So I made David go out David valiantly went (in the rain) to the grocery store to buy me some super-fancy cage free eggs so I could make an omelet. Then I realized something most embarrassing: I don't know how to make an omelet! So I youtubed it, got my ingredients out, and took a crack at it.


The result? A two egg omelet with avocado, shrooms (love me my fungus!), green onion and fresh chopped parsley. Accompanying this two-egg wonder was a side of hashbrowns (with green onions and parsley), half a banana, handful of strawberries, and two slices of facon. And a cup of chocolate soymilk. Yum! I kind of want to go eat it again.

This provided me with excellent fuel to do my run. It was raining and cold outside, so we headed to the gym where I got on the treadmill and vowed to do an easy run. I did a 5 minute warm up, one 10-minute mile, and then a funny speed walk for 10 minutes with 8-10% inclines. I finished it up with a 5 minute 'sprint,' ending in 2.78 miles (31:00). I tried to do some leg exercises with the cable machine thing but ended up working my glutes for every single one. Hope I don't pay for that one tomorrow.

A Pretty Good Day

Blog update, bullet-point style!

• Tempo Run. Hubby and I started our Saturday morning off by going to the gym. My running schedule said to do a 30 minute tempo run, so a 30 minute tempo run I did. I did 10 minutes at 5.5, then spent the next 15 minutes getting up to 6.5, held 6.5 for 5 minutes, and then slowed down for the next 5. The most difficult part of this tempo run wasn't holding the faster speed for 5+ minutes; it was the last 5 minutes where I really wanted to walk but made myself run instead. It was definitely a great workout, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next week! Result: 3.5 miles in 36:06
  
• Icing and a fruit smoothie. These will be so much more enjoyable to do when it gets warmer! As soon as I got home I got pretty hungry, so I threw some things in a blender to drink up: Peach Chobani (my least favorite flavor), half a banana, handful of strawberries, splash of chocolate soymilk, and two tablespoons of flaxmeal. I parked myself on the couch, threw a bag of ice on my knee, and drank my smoothie. Max helped clean the cup afterwords.
• Met new friends for lunch! I'm pretty new to blogging, so when I got the chance to meet a fellow blogging friend, I was pretty excited! I met Brittney, along with two other bloggers- Erin and Kelly at a vegetarian/vegan eatery. It was nice to kick back and talk food and fitness with such friendly people! Maybe Brittney and Kelly can be my marathon-coaches??? =)
• The husband made a to-do list. When I got home, David was scrubbing floors, changing air filters, fixing sink drains, painting our naked door frame... I gotta leave this guy alone more often!
  
• Rainy day relaxation. I made a cup of chai tea and snuggled up on the coach with Max-O to read through two books I checked out of the library: Skinny Girl Dish and 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes. My fluter-friend and old running buddy is coming over this evening for some quality chick-flick movie time. Maybe David can scrub the floorboards and dust the bookshelves while we're watching movies?

My little snuggle-buddy!!

A Garmin, two Mormons, and one happy runner

And no, they didn't all walk into a bar.

I had a crazy good run this morning. I don't know why, it started like any other run, but I was happy to be out there. Ok, so that's the vocabulary of a 1st grader. I was content, energetic, thankful, hopeful, appreciative... I guess all these combined made it a good run.

I started with my usual pre-run fuel: coffee, toast, peanut butter and honey. Instead of eating Clif blocks in the middle and end of my run, I decided to eat one when I started, one at mile 4, and one at mile 7. I tried not to let myself take walk breaks longer than one minute, except when eating a block- I gave myself two minutes. Because, well, I'd be the one to choke while eating and running.

Going along with my post title, there were three major highlights of my run.

1. One Happy Runner. I do most of my long runs on the same greenway, and I see this one guy every now and then who runs like such a spaz (that's how I know it's him). Now, everyone can look goofy now and then, myself included. But this guy just looks plain WEIRD when he runs, arms flailing, head bobbing, legs and feet going all over the place... but the one thing that I ALWAYS notice is that he has the biggest smile on his face and he says "Hey, how's it goin?" every time we pass. I wish I could be more like that. He makes running look like it's the funnest thing in the world, and he's not afraid to share his contentment with everyone he passes. So the Happy Runner gave me some inspiration early on in my run.

2. Two Mormons. Let me preface this story by telling you that I love running with music. There are some songs that I would never listen to outside the context of running. Or driving with the windows down by myself. Today, I was really getting into my tunes by singing them out loud. Who needs a running partner to have conversation with in order to know you're running 'easy' enough? Just throw on some headphones and sing! If you can't get all the words out, you're running too hard! (As a side note, I really do miss running with my running partner, or a group in general). Do I think being able to sing the lyrics to every cheesy song makes me cool? Yes, I absolutely do. So when the infamous Love Potion Number 9 song came on, I just couldn't hold back.

Everyone knows this song, but just in case ya don't:

I took my troubles down to Madame Rue
You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth.
She's got a pad down on Thirty-fourth and Vine
Sellin' little bottles of Love Potion Number 9.

I told her that I was a flop with chicks,
I've been this way since 1956.
She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign
She said "What you need is Love Potion Number Nine"

She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
She said "I'm gonna make it up right here in the sink."
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like Indian ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink

Just as I was finishing the third verse, I turn the corner and come face to face with 2 guys who I'm pretty sure were Mormon. (Being a college student at UF has given me a pretty good eye for spotting people who ride bicycles with suits on, no matter the temperature, with black plastic name badges).

I casually waved hello and kept truckin along:

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started kissin' everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine.

So maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was pretty funny.

3. A Garmin. Like I said a few posts back, I'm on a trial period with a Garmin 305. I'd like to call it "my Garmin" but I just can't. A few of my family members got together this past Christmas to chip in for a Garmin, fully equipped with a heart rate monitor, for my dad. My dad, who may or may not be reading this (hey dad!) isn't the most technologically adept person out there. In addition, his runs usually outlast the Garmin battery. Yes, you heard read that right. His training runs exceed 10 hours. But basically he hasn't figured out how to use it. So a few weeks ago, he handed the coveted Garmin to me and said "figure it out." So I've been running with it for the past week, and I must admit I'm becoming very attached. Here are my times for today's run:


I clearly have no idea how to pace myself, since mile 2 was 9:50 (I blame the Happy Runner) and my last mile was in fact my fastest (I blame that on needing to visit the lady's room). Maybe after a few tempo runs I'll have a better idea of what to do.

That about sums it up. Hope everyone out there had a good Thursday and has an even greater Friday!

Hill Work

I decided to make use of my hill loop, and instead of running it for distance, I chose one of the more steep hills and ran it back and forth. Hitting myself in the head with a sledge hammer probably would have felt better, but I suppose this is good training. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be (though I'm not saying it was easy!) so I think I'll choose a steeper hill next time. I did a mile + quarter warm up, 6 jaunts up the hill (and what goes up must come down), then a 3 quarter mile cool down. My last sprint was my fastest, so I probably should push myself harder in the middle of the workout next time.


I took it easy this morning at the gym in preparation for my 10 miler tomorrow. My second pair of new running shoes came in the mail yesterday (I ordered them the day we went to the movie screening where the other ones fell into my lap). So now I have 2 BRAND NEW Brooks, 1 pair of broken-in Brooks, and 1 pair of Brooks that need to retire. And my New Balance gym shoes. My closet overfloweth with athletic shoes.