Monthly Archives: August 2012

95 Mile Week

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Another week of high mileage. :)

I never, ever thought I would be this close to running 100 miles. In the past, occasionally I would think, “wouldn’t it be cool if I ran 100 miles one week.” And now I am oh, so close!

As of right now, I’m still on the fence about whether that will happen this week or next. I’m pretty tired and sore from this week of running, but I’ve noticed my body is recovering faster than it used to, so I might be ready for 100 miles this week. But if not, I will be doing it next week! No questions asked.

Here’s how this week of running went down:

Monday

10 miles/1:17

45 minutes of weight lifting

Tuesday

AM – 10 miles/1:20

PM – 5 miles/39:00

Wednesday

AM – 10 miles/ 1:20

PM – 5 miles/40:00

Thursday

14 miles/1:51

30 minutes of weight lifting

Friday

9 miles/1:15

Saturday

24 miles/3:12

Sunday

8 miles/1:06

Total: 95 miles

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The new job is still going well. Here are some things I really dig about it:

- being able to go to the bathroom whenever I want. (This was not possible when teaching.)

- not having to listen to kids screaming in a gym all day long.

- I have windows I can look out during the day. (This wasn’t the case when teaching in an enclosed gym and having an office without windows as well.)

- dressing up! (I got really tired of wearing sweats to work every day. I hated feeling frumpy.)

 

There are a few things I do miss about teaching though:

- being able to stand up more and not being strapped to a desk. (I get really tired of sitting all day.)

- the higher pay. (I took a HUGE pay cut when I started my new job.)

 

All in all, it is nice to not have the “Sunday blues” and dread going to work the next day.

Mid-week Food Post

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Random ramblings:

1.      Today was the first day of school, and I’m SO glad I am not longer a teacher. No regrets about resigning!

2.      My goal is to run 95 miles this week. I’ve done 40 so far. Eek—I am not even half done! It is already taking a toll on me, but I’m hoping this will only help prepare me for the marathon! I can’t decide which is harder: running really high mileage (when your body really isn’t used to it) or training for a marathon through a brutal winter.

3.      My husband had strep throat last week, and now I’m starting to feel my throat get a little scratchy. I REALLY hope I’m not coming down with it too. I started taking echinacea, so I hope it helps!

4.      I have not been sleeping well. This is not good for the high mileage or warding off sickness. Must get lots of sleep tonight!

5.      Only 37 days until we go to Minnesota to see family and friends, see Josh Turner in concert, and run a marathon! So much to look forward to!

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Since this is a running AND food blog, I thought I’d better do a post on some food too. ;)

While I don’t foresee myself ever becoming a vegetarian or vegan, their diets do intrigue me. I especially found this article in Runner’s World (June 2012) on ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek very interesting. He swears that his vegan diet has made him a better and faster runner!

He included a recipe for Choclate Adzuki Bars, and I’ve been wanting to try this recipe since seeing it in the magazine.

Initially I didn’t know where to find adzuki beans, but I finally ended up finding them at the bulk section of Carrs (Safeway) grocery store.

Here’s how my bars turned out. I baked them for the maximum amount of time (45 minutes), but they were still doughy on the inside. Next time I should pick a larger pan so they aren’t as thick.

Overall, they were pretty good. I would make them again and add some chocolate chips on top next time. ;)

Here are some other foods I’ve been enjoying lately.

This Cinnamon Chex cereal is so good and so addicting!! They taste just like Cinnamon Toast Crunch! They have 8 grams of sugar, which I didn’t think was too bad.

I seriously could eat cereal all day long.

And this is the healthy, organic version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It definitely is very close in taste but has a slightly odd after taste. However, not enough for me to stop eating them. :)

I go through my “granola”/protein bar phases and right now I’m enjoying all sorts of Luna bars. I like that they have a decent amount of protein (10g) and not overly calorie-dense (180 calories).

My favorite flavors right now are: Chocolate Dipped Coconut, Peanut Butter and Pretzel, and Blueberry Bliss.

These are a mostly-nut bar with some added seeds and dried fruit that I bought at Costco. I like them (more like “likED” them), but I’ve kind of overdosed on them.

It might only be 8 p.m. here, but I’m ready for bed!

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Questions

What is your favorite kind of cereal?

What food have you recently overdosed on?

Cut-back Week

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I’m a planner and a perfectionist and when things don’t go as planned, it stresses me out. But as I’ve learned in life, things never go as I planned—case in point: the thought of living in Alaska never even crossed my mind, I thought I would be a teacher my whole life, and I thought I’d get married at 21/22 and have a couple of kids by now.

Needless to say, this week didn’t go quite as I planned. After stressing about it for a few days, I’m okay with how this week turned out because I feel refreshed and ready to run some high mileage this next week.

After my first 80 mile week followed by my first 90 mile week, I think my legs rebelled a little. Despite taking Monday off, my legs were not recovering, so I ended up taking two days off this week.

Here’s how my week of running went down:

Monday

Off – I badly needed a day off, and it helped but apparently not enough. :-?

Tuesday

10 miles/1:15 (with a new tempo workout)

45 minutes weight lifting

Wednesday

AM – 8 miles/1:06

PM – 5 miles/39:30

Thursday

9 miles/1:15

45 minutes weight lifting (just upper body so my legs could recover)

Friday

Off – I just wasn’t feeling any better, so I decided to take another day off. I don’t want to go through this entire marathon training session fatigued the whole time. Maybe other people can do it, but it wasn’t making my daily runs enjoyable.

Saturday

Distance: 22 miles

Time: 2:53

Average pace: 7:54 minutes/mile

I think this means I’m back in the game! I felt really good during this run, and my average pace was the same as it was during Grandma’s Marathon! If I can maintain a marathon race pace in a training run (minus 4 miles), that gives me confidence I can run the Twin Cities Marathon faster!

I tired a new energy gel during Saturday’s run—GU Rocktane. It was about $0.50 more than the regular GU but often times you get what you pay for, so I wanted to see if it was worth the extra 50 cents. Verdict: I really think it helped me more than other energy gels —or then again it could be in my head, but I went from running 8:00-8:10 minutes/mile to 7:40, even 7:30 minutes per mile! It was great. What wasn’t all that great was the flavor. At first I thought it tasted good, but then it reminded me of medicine from when I was a child—amoxicillin possibly?

Sunday

8 miles/1:05

Total: 62 miles

I really missed running high mileage this week, but it was probably good to take a break. This next week, I’m hoping for some high mileage again—I’m excited!! I’ll fill you in on how it goes!!

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Job update. . . . .

The new job is going quite well—except the fact my brain hurts at the end of the day from all the new terminology and insane amount of acronyms!!

The crazy thing was that I showed up for work on the first day and literally the first thing one of my co-workers said to me, “oh yeah, we discovered your blog.” I was flattered but mostly worried I had written something bad.

I definitely do not miss teaching—school starts this week. And I’m pretty sure I am not going to be very stressed out in my new job, which is a very good thing. The only complaint I have so far is that I get really tired of sitting all day. Maybe I can convince my new employer to let me get a desk where I can raise and lower the height of the desk so I could stand and sit as I wanted!