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Wiped Out

Whew guys. Sorry for lack of posting-this weekend just wiped me out! In addition to spending hours outside in the hot sun exploring DC, I still slept an insane amount, thanks to drowsy-inducing alley medicine. I got eaten alive by mosquitos the other day-and I do not react well to East Coast mosquitos. None of the normal tricks were working, so it was necessary. And then Sunday I accidentally had a bite of something with a nut in it, so I’m hoping that with allergy medicine I can prevent the reaction from coming on, although I probably won’t know if it worked for a few days!

Friday evening started with bench pressing at Crossfit and sweet potato nachos.

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After staying up later than I should have, Saturday morning my friends and I met up again to visit Mount Vernon. I am seriously falling in love with the Virginia countryside. It was beautiful. And all the history was so cool! I forgot how much I love American history!

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Afterwards we got froyo and it was fantastic.

On the running front, I want to give a little plantar fasciitis update. For some reason, I woke up for my 5 miler on Friday morning and I couldn’t walk it was so bad. I immediately took Advil, and hobbled along for a mile or so until it warmed up, and then had a good run. The other day though, I bought some sleeves for my feet that give me extra arch support and they are lifesaving. I’ve been on my feet all weekend, and my feet are fine. It’s amazing.

On Sunday, I had my long run in the morning. I had a great route. 3 memorials, 1 river, Mt Vernon trail, an airport….and most importantly, ending in cupcakes. The plan was to run to cupcakes, and then metro back. I saw the Lincoln, Jefferson, and FDR memorials. The FDR was on accident. I made a turn looking for a bathroom and there it was.

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It ended up being a good run, although I felt like I was slugging along. I always forget how hard these first long runs are. Somehow I managed to hit a pace that was around where I should be though, which was nice.

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Most importantly though, I have finally found the best cupcakes in the DC area! I had a good feeling about this place. I heard about it from my coworkers. It’s called Lavendar Moon, in Alexandria. I even ordered a cupcake that wasn’t my favorite flavor, and I’m still saying that. FINALLY a perfectly moist cupcake. I had a s’mores cupcake.

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Look at that beauty. Can every run end here?

After returning home and cleaning myself up, I headed out to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was really cool-I mostly wanted to see one of the IMAX movies, and it did not disappoint. I only got the the air part, not really the space part, before I got incredibly tired and had to call it a day. I got some books though that I’m excited to read!

And that was my weekend. The only thing I’ll add-I went to spin today without my spinning shoes. It was awful. My arches don’t like me right now. It’s amazing the difference they make!

Have you ever been to a Smithsonian? Which should I go to next?

I Didn’t Sign Up for This

Guess who ran 14 miles today?

This girl.

Guess who had zero intention of running 14 miles today?

Uhhh…yeah.

Guess who tried a new route on her long run and TOTALLY missed the major turnoff?

Ummm…are we seeing a trend here?

But let’s back up.

I want to start by saying Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I celebrated by eating almost exclusively green food. No, really. It was totally by accident-and I clearly don’t have much in my fridge!

My first final today was at 8:30, so I started my day my making a spinach, egg white, and cheese scramble in my dorm room.

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Then, I picked up a cappuccino on the way to the exam.

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During dead and finals week, the cappuccinos have been prettier. It’s definitely a trade off though because it makes the milk foam pretty bitter!

I got to my exam super early to top off my studying.

My only comment about the exam is that 3 hour exams are very long and I get very thirsty. And the worst thing ever is getting stuck on a renal system and urine secretion problem during this time!

I was able to get out a bit early in time to eat lunch before my next exam. My lunch ended up greener than planned-I discovered this morning that my salsa was moldy!

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Sweet potato, egg whites, and spinach. Plus a slice of marble cake to celebrate the end of my Bio class of the quarter! I spent SO much time studying for this exam the last few days!

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After my Nutrition final, I made the decision to to Sunday’s long run. I was still feeling pretty good, and I wasn’t super excited by tonight’s Crossfit workout, so I figured, why not? I knew I’d need more fuel though! It was-you guessed it-more egg whites with spinach and cheese, plus a kiwi!

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In theory, today’s run was 12 miles. I was super excited-I had an interesting new route mapped out! I even joked to my roommate about getting lost…and then guess who missed their turn…the road was a big smaller one that expected (which I found on the way back…). And I didn’t bother to check my maps on my phone until mile 7…when there was literally nowhere to go except back where I came from! I guess I could have still taken my turn on the way back, but I didn’t really need to do 16 miles today!

Want to know the crazy part though? Check out my half marathon split.

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That’s only a couple of seconds off of my first half marathon-and I wasn’t really trying! And it’s crazy to think how bad I felt after that. I couldn’t move the next day. Immediately, my legs were in so much pain. The last mile was horrible. Granted, this time I did stop the clock to stretch/be really lost, but still! It’s amazing how far I’ve come since then! This is one reason why I may PR my half coming up without trying-I’ve just gotten so much faster! I’m not sure if I WANT to PR though-I really just want to enjoy the race more than anything else. 

I think today’s run is really a testament to the training. In last week’s 11 miler, I felt like I was dying the last few miles. Today? I wasn’t even pushing the pace until the last mile, and on the way back I was easily under 10:00. (It was uphill out, and slight downhill back). More amazing? I was under 10:00 on the 14th mile. I was planning on just waling it, which I did some, but mostly I decided that since I felt ok still, and it was faster, it was worth it to run it. 

To recover from my longer than expected run, I immediately put on my holiday appropriate socks.

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I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of the reason I wanted to do my long run today was to wear these socks…

I definitely refueled well. I went to the local burger place, with full intention of getting a turkey or chicken burger, but this caught my eye and I decided I needed it NOW.

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An egg salad wrap-and hey, it was green!

I also tried the Cherry Vanilla smoothie. When the nutritionist talked to my sorority, she highlighted this particular smoothie because tart cherry juice is supposed to aid in muscle recovery. The smoothie had vanilla greek yogurt, tart cherry juice, cherries, and strawberries. It was delicious!

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This was the perfect post-run recovery meal! But boy oh boy am I ready for bed! 14 miles plus 2 finals?? I’m totally crazy!

 

 

Long Run Recap

I think I’m at the point in the quarter where things are just not as exciting to blog/read about, but given this is a food and fitness blog, and food has been kind of boring lately, I’m going to focus more on my half training! Because-hello, I’m on week 6 of a 10 week training program!

Yesterday was my 10 mile training run. It actually doesn’t seem like that much anymore. 13.1? That’s a different story. 

I woke up a little bit sore in my calves from my 5k. I was a little concerned, but it ended up not really mattering. Before leaving, I rolled out really well.

My route was just around campus-my two usual runs pieced together. The first part included a giant hill. I know I’ve said I wanted to keep my paces for long runs under 10:00, but I knew that was not realistic given the giant hill. My legs definitely felt a little more tired than I was expecting! 

The good news? I only got rained on a little bit. It started raining right as I left, but didn’t last long. Also, having a giant hill at the start seemed to save my feet. 

Overall, the run went well but I was definitely feeling the impact of the distance by the end. My ankle starting really hurting, which was strange because it hasn’t bothered me in a while and the other ankle, which I rolled last week, was fine. Hmmm…I was able to keep most of the distance off the hill at my goal of under 10:00, including the last 2 miles, which always seem to be the hardest! 

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By the time I got back, all the dining halls were closed from brunch. I was grateful I had food in my room, so I had a random mash of things-Amy’s Spinach and Feta wrap, cheese and crackers, fruit. I have to say though, my appetite is nothing like it would be after my long runs when I first started distance running! I guess our bodies adapt!

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Also awesome: my mom got me the St. Patrick’s day compression socks! I wore them all day yesterday. I still think compression socks are magic. My calves felt less sore from wearing them, and I have no long run soreness now. I might try running in them to see if it helps my tendonitis!

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And since it’s after breakfast and I have a picture, here are my microwave eggs and smoked gouda, and a grapefruit.

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Also-I bought a fair amount of Quest bars last Friday. But I really should not be eating them because they have nuts and my skin is going crazy. Would anybody be interested in a giveaway if I did that?? Save me from myself!

WIAW-College is Hard

So…college is hard. I would absolutely love more sleep, but during week 8, that doesn’t always happen. Week 8 is something only quarter system students can truly appreciate. And yes, everyone knows exactly what week it is and the perils of each week. Thank goodness for a little foodie break! Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting this mid-week party!

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I’ve had some delicious food in the last couple of days. You’ll notice that nothing is from Tuesday…I’m planning a day in the life post for that day! So-here we go!

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A dining hall breakfast of COFFEE, plain Greek yogurt with fruit and granola, and a few bites of steel cut oats because our dining hall has them and I’ve never tried them. 

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It was Parent’s Weekend last weekend. Which meant a large vegetable delivery. And a delicious lunch out.

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A panini with avocado, cheese, and tomato on whole grain bread. Take a second to look at that beauty,

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Lots of roasted veggies for snack/dinner. The brussels sprouts are sesame brussels from PaleOMG. They have a curry dipping sauce, which I liked the flavor of, but I think next time I’d try it with a lighter base, such as avocado, or greek yogurt.

And since I had all those veggies for snack and after Crossfit I needed to go to the store and I just HAPPENED to find a parking spot in front of my favorite ice cream place….yeah, this was necessary!

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Sunday was my long run day, now that I’m officially in half training! Since I AM officially in half training, I think it’s time to take my pre run meals more seriously. I’ve kind of been just eating whatever before them…I had some banana blueberry oats with sunflower seed butter.

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Which took a long time to digest….and then I got brunch….and then another snack…so I didn’t start my run until around 5. It was 8 miles, and it went surprisingly well. My feet hated me, but that’s that…I’m trying to keep my paces on my long runs below 10:00 as much as possible, unless there are crazy hills so I was right on track!

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Sunday night after a long couple of hours of sorority requirements, I was talking to my sister and she said “You sound like you need a boba.” So we drove to her newest favorite place, and I had a jasmine milk tea. Sometimes you do need a late night boba!

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Monday morning I thought it would be a fabulous idea to do a track workout, despite my long run being Sunday. Which is another way of saying I didn’t think. My legs were definitely a little heavy, so that schedule is going to have to change as my long runs get longer! For breakfast, I had a yogurt bowl, plus half a lemon zest pancake because I really wanted to try it. It was good! But subtle.

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I had some leftover oatmeal from Sunday morning, so I brought a little with me to put on top of my yogurt bowl for some extra flavor and texture.

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I must be channeling my inner Ashley– not only did I have an avocado and cheese panini, but I also made a Mexican style lunch with sweet potato, asparagus, cottage cheese, salsa, and guacamole. All in tupperware with a kiwi.

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That’s a small step up from eating out of a plastic bag, right?

Have a great week everybody!

What’s one of your favorite food combos right now?

So…That Just Happened

What just happened? THIS.

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(NOTE-that wasn’t my pace-it was displaying the fastest pace.)

Wait…what?

I’ve been hinting to you guys that I wanted to get one last long run in before 5k training starts, but I purposely didn’t say the amount because I wasn’t sure how it would go, and I didn’t want to push through if something felt off. But let’s back up a tiny bit. 

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Pre-run breakfast-eg, banana, cocoa powder. I couldn’t find my normal cocoa powder so I used the dark chocolate, which worked just fine. 

Then, I laid out my fueling-so much different than just my one packet of goo for a normal long run!

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I wore my water belt, but I also carried a plastic pouch of water because I knew that wouldn’t be enough, and I didn’t think I’d have anywhere to fill it (although I did end up seeing a water fountain and public bathroom at mile 7.5-good to know!) I had so much to carry though!

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I also brought my phone on this in case something went horribly wrong-it was a loop, so if I got hurt or anything, I would be far, far away from where I needed to be. 

I was planning on listening to my audiobook, but I decided to listen to just one song to get me started. But I was really enjoying the whole running to music thing, so I kind of cheated and just turned on my #werunsf race day playlist. Hey, I’m not going to be running a half for a very long time anyways! Since my route was a lot more interesting than the out and backs I do at the bay trail, the music served as the perfect amount of distraction. Plus, I was running near cars a lot, which makes my audiobook difficult to hear. 

The weather was perfect. The run route was really awesome too-I’ve biked this loop before so I knew what to expect. It took me past a pumpkin patch, many horse farms, a vineyard, a farm. There were also a ton of beautiful fall trees. 

This route definitely wasn’t flat though. There weren’t mountains, but I checked the elevation, and I think there were around 400 feet of gains. For the record-I would much rather run up these hills than bike them! The first 6 miles were uphill-slightly uphill, but fairly constant. I wasn’t worrying about pace at all, but my pace was concerning me a little in this part, just because if I kept that pace the whole way, it would take FOREVER. There was a trail/path off the road, but it had a TON of rolling hills because it followed the natural terrain and was much lower than the road, but every quarter mile or so would come back up to meet the road. I ended up running on the street quite a bit (FACING traffic-don’t worry!).

I really, really enjoyed it. I passed a million bikers, which was pretty cool. I think I had the dorkiest smile on my face. Especially around Mile 11-but that may have had something to do with the fact that it was pretty much downhill from there.

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Check out this view at mile 11!

And what I just came down from. 

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I loved this route because it was so varied, and I never got bored. 

But enough about the scenery. How did it feel?

My feet weren’t a non-issue. And this run really was a test for them to see if they would handle marathon training. I was able to manage them by focusing on running on a very particular part of my foot. And since I wasn’t trying to break any speed record, I’d stop as necessary to shake them out, which helped a ton. I also stretched as needed, which definitely helped. My left toe stopped hurting at the end, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because my legs starting getting super tired and I just lost track of my foot pain, because it really hurt after my run was finished. 

I realized around mile 1 that I didn’t even think about replenishing electrolytes. Whoops. None of my runs in the past were really long enough for this to be an issue, so I didn’t even think about it. During a long hill climb around mile 11, my hamstring started acting up a little (cramping), but I was able to stretch it out and carry on, although it’s a little sore today.

My biggest issue with this run? The distances didn’t quite work out, so I ended up running around my dorm area for the last mile/half mile or so. Which is the. worst. thing. ever. You can see the finish line, and you’re there, but you’re not there. Which stinks when your legs are DONE. 

As far as fueling goes, I tried the raspberry Cliff goo for the first time. I bought it when I wasn’t sure if I’d find chocolate for my race. First of all, I love Cliff goos for the ingredient list. It doesn’t have weird chemicals, so they goo just tastes like syrup, not like chemicals (like the one other brand I tried. Ick!) The raspberry was a little thinner, and maybe a little sweeter. Which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but I had a cold a week ago, and have a tiny bit of a lingering cough, especially when I eat sweet things. Add that to 10 miles of running, and you get a coughing fit while trying to eat a goo. I think the bikers thought I was crazy. It’s casual. 

I also understand why fruit is handed out on the marathon course. I would have killed for watermelon at mile 13.1 when I had to eat my bar. Next time! 

As soon as I finished, I threw on my compression socks. My calves were already getting sore!

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At that point, I also would have killed for a smoothie. So I snuck into the dining hall as it was closing, and had an awesome post run breakfast. 

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My legs actually did not feel bad after this. I’m a little sore today, but nothing crazy. It’s amazing how things have changed since I first started training for a half. After my first 10 miler, I could not walk. At all. Yesterday, I was fine. Although stairs still seemed a little intimidating. 

Also, while I wasn’t worrying about pace, I just stuck to what felt comfortable, I was still only a few seconds off the pace for my first ever 12 miler, which was waaaaay flatter than this hilly run. In this run, on flats, I often found myself in the 9:00s, 10, 12 miles into the run. Mile 15 was probably near a 10:00 pace, which used to be a huge push for me. 

So….my conclusion from this run? Could I run 10 more? I don’t know. Maybe with training. But I’m not going to be running a marathon in the near future. For one thing, it doesn’t really fit into my race schedule. I’m working on shorter distances until my warm up half marathon in April. I’m going to try to PR the Giant’s half marathon in the summer, since it’s a relatively flat course (for SF).

But.

The timing would set me up pretty perfectly for a fall marathon. 

So we shall see!

For now though, I’m excited to focus on shorter distances and speed. I really, really need to do a timed mile, but I’m kind of dreading it because those are painful. I want to try to do some fast 5ks in January and February as well, you know, before I move into a faster age division! 

After my run, I had a retreat for my sorority. The best part? The girl whose house it was at had 3 cats. Heaven. 

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For dinner, we ordered Thai food, which was really good! And after 16 miles…I may or may not have been a bottomless pit. 

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I didn’t spend the night because I’m sleep deprived and drowning in work, so I ended up getting a solid 9.5 hours of sleep last night. Oh daylight savings time, you could not have come at a better time. 

Also, congrats to Meghan for finishing a full IRONMAN. That’s insane! I was definitely thinking about her on my run yesterday!

Should I run a marathon? Am I crazy? What’s your favorite post workout food?

Biscuits were salty and amazing yesterday. OMG.