stocking up on fuel
the ever-changing weather forecast for Sunday
“uh, these are full-sized carrots”
reading healthy living articles that my grandmother sent me
Eek!
What is something funny you saw this week?
Tell me 3 awesome things you are going to do this weekend.
New recipes haven’t happened lately since we have been busy settling into the new apartment.
I was out running errands one evening and came home to the amazing sound of sizzling soy sauce.
Tuna had cooked us up some restaurant-style shrimp fried rice! Not only did I immediately start shoveling it in to my mouth from the pan, I nodded in approval as Tuna attested to its legitimacy because it was from a blog.
When I said I should take some pictures for What I Ate Wednesday, Tuna said “I already did!”
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat a large skillet to medium heat. Pour in sesame oil.
Add onion, peas, and carrots and cook until tender.
Push veggies to the side, and pour beaten egg mixture onto its spot on the skillet.
Scramble the eggs. Once cooked, mix in the eggs with the veggies.
Add the pre-cooked rice and shrimp to the skillet.
Add soy sauce and stir for a few minutes until hot.
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting WIAW!
Week 11 of a training cycle is the calm before the storm. The last stretch before the race.
Because I needed that extra boost of confidence last week, I was determined to do all of my runs: no skipping allowed. (I have kind of had a little problem of skipping my runs during this cycle.)
Saturday’s long run made me think a lot about what my goals are next weekend at the PRR Half Marathon.
12 miles is almost as long as the distance we’ll run next week: 13.1.
I know it’s going to be painful, and I know will be a lot of hard work, but unlike my first half marathon last Spring – I think I can do it. On the longest of the long runs I only took 2 quick pit stops at the same out and back water fountain to refill my handheld and was totes fine just putzin’ down the trail for 2+ hours.
During the run I thought about what my goals for the race are. Last time my big thing was to not walk and I didn’t have a time to base anything off of.
I still run embarrassingly slow, so I don’t have a ridiculous time I’m trying to hit to a real race time I NEED to get or die. I’m just going to be running along, trying not to be last.
But I also would like to take pride that I <hopefully> gotten a teensy bit faster hoofing my booty down trails I wouldn’t have been walking on a year ago.
Half marathon time to beat: 2:36:32, 11:57 min mile
Goal race pace: 2:29:59, 11:26 min mile
Week #11 Recap
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: 5 mile run
Friday: rest
Sunday: rest
What is your next goal race pace?
Are you running a race soon?
daylight saving time
converting tuna to overnight oats
purchasing the prettiest camelbak ever
packing my gym bag in the dark
grocery shopping after an hour-long run
Woohoo, it’s Friday!
What are you doing this weekend?
A good running week always comes after a bad one. That is just how it works.
Please disregard the fact that I used cleaning my old apartment as my cross training. It did, however, take many hours and lots of sweating so I feel semi-validated in doing so.
After a mid-week run in my new apartment gym and a longer run on the treadmill at Crunch with a interesting new book club read (The Handmaid’s Tale), I was feeling pretty confident about the upcoming half. But then I got home and proceeded to re-arrange furniture in the den approximately ten times and immediately felt the dreaded awkward tweak in my back.
When I woke up on Friday morning it was still bothering me. You know that kind of muscle/nerve strain where you get an occasional shock of pain? Thank goodness it completely went away after 24 hours of resting it, and I was 100% good to go for the weekend’s long run. Even though I swore to myself after last week that I would do all four runs every week before the race, I tried not to feel too guilty for skipping a run when I really did need to.
Sunday morning offered PERFECT fall running weather and all was forgiven.
I am loving that my new apartment is less than a mile away from my favorite trail. It is so flat and has great views, plus it goes on forever – so it is just right for building up mileage.
Two things helped me get through Week 10’s long run:
1. Having new mileage landmarks.
Jumping on the trail at a new spot threw off all of my usual mileage spots. Before, I always knew how far I’d gone because of a bench or how much I had left when coming up on a bridge. Now all of those spots are new distances along the path. Scrambling up the mileage in my mind distracted me so that I had to be mentally tougher with my Garmin as my only guide.
2. Breaking it up.
Double digit runs are still new to me and sometimes they can feel like you are running FOREVER. Little goals like making it to the turnaround helped make the longer miles seem more manageable. It was refreshing to watch them tick along as successful checkpoints.
Only one more long run left before the Potomac River Run Half!
Week #10 Recap
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: 5 mile run
Friday: rest
Sunday: 11 mile run
Don’t believe the little face, it should be smiling.
What are some of your tricks to make a long run go by faster?
Do you ever count unconventional activities as cross training?
a fahhhncy welcome basket
exploring the new apartment gym
living around the corner from the best greek food ever
Tuna trying on his Halloween costume
and getting creative with mine
Hope you get to do lots of fun things this weekend!
Tell me: are you dressing up for Halloween this year?
First things first:
*****
I am very annoyed at my Garmin right now.
It isn’t talking to my computer so I can’t show you pretty pictures of my speedy (for me) run on Friday. Friday runs are my thing now.
Let me back up – as you know, I moved last week. For some reason, I thought I could function as a normal human being and run all of my Week 9 miles, pack everything I own, clean, and sleep. False.
Runs were the first thing on the list to get cut. I ended up skipping 2 out of the 4 runs on the schedule. I had so much run guilt it was ridiculous. I felt like skipping your run = you are a bad person.
I kept having this internal/external battle between my mind and my body. Should I do the run, should I squeeze it in, should I try to wake up really early….?
It seems fine to scold yourself when choosing the couch over a run, but what it you are legitimately working your butt off? Sometimes life is busy and it’s not worth pushing yourself to exhaustion in order to write in the extra mileage on your training chart. In gel pen.
At least all of my shitty running weeks coincide with stepback weeks in the training cycle.
At the end of the week I sucked it up and ran even though I was overtired. I was glad I did, because it actually ended up energizing me and being one of my best runs in a long time. I hope that sets the tone for the next three weeks before the half!
Week #9 Recap
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: rest
Friday: 5 mile run
Sunday: rest
Do you ever get run guilt when you skip runs on your training plan?
Last weekend I moved to a new apartment on the other side of town. It was super exciting but also took way more out of me physically than I thought it would.
A procrastinator by heart, I planned out the logistics of packing rather than actually doing the packing itself. Basically – I kind of waited until the last minute. The almost all-nighter reminded me of some of my college days.
Another side effect of moving was that for once in my life I wasn’t being a food hoarder. I found myself with nothing in the pantry. Which meant random ass dinner and nibbles of stale items left in the corners of the cabinets. That, paired with convenience store snacks for brunch (BBQ chips were eaten…) and ridic mealtime gaps zapped my body into sugar-filled galore that had me feeling like shit 8 hours later.
Thank goodness my aunts/cousin immediately brought us steaming hot home cooked dishes so my hangry headache would finally disappear. Their basket entailed an entire roasted chicken, vegan chili, brown and white rice, and steamed broccoli.
I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to shovel my face with veggies. It is amazing how good of a fuel nutrient-packed food is for our bodies. It made me feel so much better.
I’m hoping to eat healthier this week now so it will help me unpack!
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
Tell me: do you ever forget to plan meals when you’re really busy, or during a move?
free moving boxes galore
finally watching the great gatsby (loved it!)
bringin’ my balcony plants in for hibernation
getting the keys to the new pad
TGIF. We made it! I need some sleep at some point this weekend….
Last week marked a little over halfway through this training cycle!
I started off the week with a slow and steady five miler. Everything felt pretty good and my muscles are finally starting to get used to running a lot (for me) again.
On Wednesday I had a running date with my friends Mal and Stephy after work. We ran our usual loop around the local college campus and chatted away. Running with friends is truly my fav.
Obviously froyo was necessary afterwards.
Lately my weekends have been taken up with lots of errands and sitch, so I’ve really had to improvise in order to make my long runs work.
Enter: obscure running schedule.
Yup, I just spend my Friday afternoons running for two hours now. Not my ideal time re. exercise motivation, but I at least had Friday dinner pizza to look forward to.
It was a race against the clock to make it back before the sun went down, and I made it just in time.
Double digit runs are exciting for me because I have only ever done a handful of them!
I was feeling ballsy and even ventured down a new path that I can usually see from where I run. This trail is actually the one that the half will be on (in less than a month, eek!) so it was nice to get the overall feel of what the route will be like.
It’s very flat and scenic, but a teensy bit of rough terrain. The path leads down below a bridge and I often spot serious runners on it with camelbaks and other fancy gear. It was fun pretending to be one!
Week #8 Recap
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: yoga (20 minutes)
Friday: 10 mile run
Sunday: rest
Be my friend on dailymile.com!
When do you usually do your long run?
What did your week of training look like?
Chicken Nugget Girl 