Healthy Dose of Humility

Just when I was thinking I was getting better at this whole "running" thing, I decide to go to the track to do my speed workout on the same night that the Charleston Running Club meets there for their track workout. I think I had read on their website before that they do track workouts on Tuesdays, but I don't think that registered when I decided to head out there today.

I would love to be involved in a running club, but I am in no way on the same level as these folks. I was getting tired just watching them! But I'm glad I went and saw the talent that they have. It was definitely something to strive for!

Anyways, my measly workout went about this way: I started out with a mile warm up, then I did 6 x 100m with 100m recovery jog/walks. Then I did 4 x 200ms with 100m recoveries. Then I did two laps around the track to cool down for a total of 4.2 miles (including the recovery time). Then I stretched a bit and did some ab work with 2 x 60 second planks, 2 x 60 second side planks (each side) and 2 sets of 50 crunches.

After I finished and got in the car, I kind of wished I had pushed it a bit harder because I wasn't as tired as I should have been. And I JUST now realized why. I usually do a 3 mile warm up and I only did one today! Ugh, now I'm mad. I think maybe I was paying too much attention to everyone else to pay attention to my own distance!

Ugh, off to do taxes now. Goodnight!

Snippets of the past few days...

I only have the energy to offer up a few bullets this morning...

• Wednesday after work, I got lazy and decided not to run.
• While still at work, I ate two big pieces of Amish Friendship Bread, which is really cake, leaving my tummy full and my mind pissed off at myself.
  
• Once I got home and sat down in front of the TV, I then proceeded to finish off a bag of sour cream and onion chips as well as crackers and cheese, and a huge hot dog.
  
• I NEVER eat hot dogs.
  
• Since it was the BF's bday the next day and he was at a night class, I made him a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes.
  
• I ate three.
  
• I felt like crap all night.
• Thursday morning, I didn't have to be at work until later so I made the BF bday pancakes!
• They were whole wheat so I rationalized eating a small one with honey 15 minutes prior to my 8 mile run that morning at 7 AM.
• That was a bad idea.
  
• The run went well, but the first 4 miles were tough due to pancake and food intake of the night before.
• I felt (somewhat) redeemed after finishing run, but still very pissed that I had skipped it on Wednesday, thus extending my running week and making Friday an on day rather than an off day.
• Last night I drank too much wine at a work event.
• I came home and ate TWO HOT DOGS!
• I was hungover this morning and dehydrated so I made a fruit and spinach smoothie, making me feel a little better about life.
  

Conclusion? Being lazy and skipping runs for no good reason doesn't make me happy, it actually makes me have a worse night so I don't know why I ever do it! I always end up just eating too much food and watching crappy TV. This week hasn't been the best food wise, I plan on turning that around this weekend. I'm hoping the mega smoothie from this morning will heal all and erase my past discretions.

Got a track workout on for tonight and 20 miles planned for this Sunday. We have some friends coming over tonight to watch the UNC game...I plan on serving a plethora of HEALTHY game food!

Hope everyone has had a better week than I, and is having a fantastic Friday :)

Homemade PB + Other Yummy Eats

Friday + Saturday Morning Eats (at least those worth mentioning):

Lunch was another wrap, this time with leftover grilled zucchini, avocado, tomato, feta and hummus that I then put in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese. I also had some leftover roasted veggies with some hot sauce.

After work I headed to the track to do a short workout. Usually I start out by warming up with three miles, but yesterday I thought I would try and sprint a mile and then go from there. I ran the first mile in 7:41, took a breather and then decided to do some sprints. I managed 2 x 100m, then 1 x 200m (attempted a second one, but whimped out), and then 3 x 100m. I then did 150 sit ups and some plank and boat stomach moves. I basically was like, hey! It's Friday! I'm going home! So yeah, not a great workout but I was DONZO.

Then when I came home and showered, I finally made some home made peanut butter!! It was super simple, I just put one can of unsalted dry roasted peanuts in my food processor and kept grinding it until it formed a smooth paste. I had to keep stopping it and kind of stirring it around with a butter knife. I also added about 3 T of cinnamon, a few dashes of vanilla extract, and...about 2 T of dark brown sugar! I shouldn't have added that, but I wanted it a little sweet!

The nuts before I grinded them:
The early stages of processing:

It worked!

Final product:

YUM! While I was waiting for the peanuts to grind up, I enjoyed a glass of Merlot from my wine glass that Matt's sister gave me for Christmas :) (And yes, that is my Runner's World calendar in the background!)


After sampling this deliciousness (it was Matt approved!) we headed out to dinner at Yo Burrito downtown where I got the Veggie Platos, which was basically a plate of grilled veggies, some marinated tomatoes, cheese, Mexican rice, black beans and two tortillas. I ate probably 3/4 of the plate. We also had queso dip, chips and salsa. Yum!

After rolling ourselves out of there, we both agreed we should probably not order chips and dip before the meal. Then we also agreed that we would probably never be able to not order chips :)

This morning I got up and did Yoga for Runners from YogaDownload.com. It was a little easier this time, but still kind of confusing! I also downloaded the Core Yoga workout as well, to try out this week.

I then made myself a big bowl of oats and wheat bran. It contained: oats, wheat bran (from the WF bins), 1 spoonful of home made cinnamon PB, 1/2 banana, strawberries, 1/2 scoop vanilla soy protein powder, water, pumpkin spice, honey and ground flax seeds.


Well now we're off to the farmer's market to get some local veggies! I am not running today, but will be running 13 tomorrow so I will update you then on how that goes.

***
How is everyone enjoying March Madness??? I know my bracket is definitely taking a beating! Matt and I are competing against each other and so far he has 9 losses and I have 11! Still pretty close! My TAR HEELS play this afternoon, so you better believe I will be glued to the screen later on!

How far are you guys running this weekend? Anybody have any races?

Hope everyone has a fabulous Saturday! <3

Relay Choices + Short Track Workout

Yesterday I posted about how I wanted to do the Bourbon Chase Relay in Kentucky. Some people thought it might be unorganized because it was the inaugural year. So I got to thinking about it, and thought maybe that could be the case. Then some of you suggested alternate relays.

One being the Green Mountain Relay in Vermont from June 20-21st. The other being the Wild West Relay in Colorado August 7-8th. Based on what I could find online, the Wild West Relay looks awesome! Well, they both do really and I have never been to either state, but wouldn't running through Colorado be gorgeous? They even have a Flatlanders category for those of us living below sea level! So funny.

Y'all help me decide! And again, if anyone wants to join, please let me know. If I do Colorado, I would like to form a 6x6 team.

Food & Runnin'
Yesterday for lunch the boo and I made a surprise visit to Greek cafe Papa ZuZu's here in Mt. P. I love that place! I got the veggie pita but instead of pita, I got a spinach wrap. It inlcuded hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, sprouts and more goodness I forget.

After work I went to the track for a quick run. I only had time for 3 miles, and I was feeling kind of quesy so I only got in 4 x 100m sprints. Haven't uploaded my data yet so don't have exact splits, plus I wasn't even paying attention to my Garmin yesterday so I really have no idea what my pace was. I am going to be doing about 8 tonight so hopefully that will make up for it.

We were planning on heading to a dodgeball game to meet some new folks and possibly play, but we ended up getting lost and missing out! So we consoled ourselves with ordering pizza from our favorite local spot, D'Allesandro's Pizza. I even got Matt to go veggie and order a Big Cheesy with mozzarella, parmesan, oregano, ricotta, provolone & feta. Delish! (No I didn't eat 3 huge pieces.)

This morning I was feeling pretty good and made some yummy Total with a plum, some blueberries, ground flax seeds and Light Vanilla Soy Milk. (Sometime I am going to dedicate an entire post to Total and how good it is for you. I am so glad I started eating it recently! It keeps me so full too, love it!)


Gotta be short & sweet today as I must get to work. Hopefully will update soon on our race pick and some running reports from tonight.

IT"S ALMOST THE WEEKEND! :)

Track Workout & Speedy Splits!

I am happy to report, that this week is shaping up to be a good one for running. (At least for me.) I headed to the track last night in Mt. P to do some speedwork, and I warmed up with 3 miles. I really hate running anything more than a mile at a track, but it's just more convenient for me to run it there and then immediately jump into 100 m sprints.

I was looking over my Garmin Connect data for the last time I ran at the track, and it was a few weeks back on February 13th. Now, I seem to remember that week (my birthday week!) as me being pretty lazy running wise, so I am taking this with a grain of salt. BUT my 3 mile total for that day was 31 minutes even. (That's slow even for me.)

Last night, I ran it in 26:56 shaving over 4 minutes off my time!! I usually don't try to run this too quick as I know I will be doing sprints afterward, plus it's on a track, ugh. But I was feeling pretty good last night. I usually do run 3 milers pretty quickly, but my best time even in a 5k race is only 26:17!

After looking at those numbers, I am pretty excited to see how well I will run my 5k race on Saturday.

I do have a question for you guys though, I am planning on running my long run Sunday morning after the race on Saturday. I will probably aim for anything above 15 (17 would be ideal) and then next weekend, will probably back down to about 12 as Abby suggested, then back up again to 18 or 19 the next week.

I am not running today as I have a meeting I forgot about after work (ugh, messes up my plans!) So my question is, what should I run tomorrow? I will most likely do it in the morning so I will have plenty of recovery time for the race on Friday, but I also don't want to overdo it and be too tired by Sunday morning. Any suggestions would be great!

So just to review, this has been my week:
Saturday: 15 miles in way too long
Sunday: OFF
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: 6 miles in 56:17
Wednesday: 3 miles in 26:XX and 6 x 100m
Thursday: OFF, Yoga
Friday: ????
Saturday: 5k race, Yoga
Sunday: 15-17 miles

Thanks for helping! :)

March Goal #3: YOGA:
In other news, I mentioned that one of my March goals was to start doing yoga more frequently. This morning when I was reading through everyone's blogs I was happy to find that Lisa over at On the Run (she's the race director for the NC Marathon that I am training for on May 2nd) posted today about how starting yoga in this stage of training for a May marathon can really benefit you.

Here are a few snippets from her post:

Running, as (my yoga teacher) put it, makes you strong but tightens and shortens your muscles. Yoga stretches them, lengthens them.

One great warm-up: She (my yoga teacher) would bring a bag of tennis balls so we could sit first on one cheek, then the other, and roll around on the little ball. It got right to the spot where your overworked hamstring connects to the glute, or butt, muscles. My left one chronically tightens up on any run longer than six miles, and sitting on that ball gets right to the trouble and massages the knotted up stuff.

Makes sense, right? So why am I am not taking the time to do it? I have the YogaDownload.com Yoga for Runners free session, and I am definitely going to take the time to do it tonight.

I look forward to reading any suggestions about my run tomorrow! I am also glad that I have found a few local running bloggers this week as well. :)

I am now headed off to a meeting and then MEXI NIGHT with Matt!* Be jealous!

*Matt is the boyfriend, figured if I have posted his picture I might as well post his name too!

Here's to motivation

My running experience started way back when in high school cross country. At my school, it seemed like every body ran XC (or at least started out the season with the intention of doing so) and a few of my good girl friends ran as well, so I decided to join in.

I would say that my motivator was always to get in shape, because in high school, I wasn't exactly the fittest person. I was very involved in theater and chorus, and had never been the sports star. I tried soccer for a while, but our women's team was best in the county so that didn't last very long. I had done some track and field in middle school, and I still felt like there was an athlete inside of me (underneath a bit of fat, unfortunately) so I wanted to do something that would "force" me to get in shape.

My friend Jess and I embarked on the XC season our sophmore year with not very high hopes. We cheated on our "long" runs, stopped off at friends houses, and basically made a mockery of the sport as much as we could. When track workouts came up, we usually did a few of the workouts and then ducked behind the bleachers and headed home. We didn't do this because we were bad kids, we acted this way because we weren't in shape and instead of being embarrassed at being the worst on the team, we made jokes and laughed it off like it didn't mattter.

Needless to say, when our meets came up they were nothing but miserable, gut-aching, torture.

For some stupid reason one day, Jess and I decided to sign up for a Saturday out of town meet. Why would you do that if you hated it so much, do you ask? Good question, and I have no good answer. I guess we knew inside that we wanted to do better at the sport, so we signed up for something extra thinking it would motivate us to improve.

Morning came the day of the meet and we did everything we could to get out of going, (this in itself is a great story, maybe I will put that out here one day) but to make a long story short, we had to go.




So we get to school and load the bus that cold morning, and play "What's worse?" all the way there because we were THAT miserable.

When we get there, our coach is telling everybody their goal times. When he finally gets to me, he says, "Kristin, your goal is just to finish!" He laughs it off, and I do too not wanting to look hurt and embarrassed, and I end up posting my best meet time of the year that day.

That one sentence has stayed with me ever since that morning, and has probably been the main reason that I keep pushing myself to constantly improve. After I finish my marathon, I plan on calling him up and telling him the story, and letting him know how much of an inspiration and change to my life that one sentence has made.

So back to the here and now, last night was my first track workout of my marathon training plan, and I headed to the Mt. Pleasant track to run 3 miles and then 4x100s. I was originally going to run a quick 3 mile loop around Mt. P, but then decided since I didn't really know the area, just to suck it up and run laps.

I was immediately brought back to high school, when we would all gather on the track to do a sprint workout, and Jess and I would be sucking so bad that after a few sprints we ducked out (deathly afraid of our coach catching us and yelling at us in front of the team) and headed home, or to a friends house to do something "more fun." In reality we were just completely lazy.

But now, I actually have some confidence in myself and in my running ability, and when I arrived at the track to find a large group of runners waiting to start a practice, I wasn't nervous at all to be running amongst them.

I summised pretty quickly that this was a group of beginner runners training for the bridge run in April, with their "Get Over It!" t-shirts giving them away. Most of them seemed to be very new to running and were completely way too bundled up for an running workout.

As I went through my workout, slowly they trickled onto the track, some walking, some barely jogging. Some of them were my age, some were older, but they all had one thing in common--they wanted to be better.

Although I was quicker and more in shape than they were last night, I haven't always been that way. Running there with them last night I was thrown back to that time when all I wanted was to be in shape, to be able to run a 5k easily, to be better, and I know that's how they were probably feeling as well.

It has taken a few years, but running has completely changed my life. It has given me more confidence in myself, given me more energy, it has changed my body and my outlook on life.

In 4 months when I am running those last 6.2 miles after already running 20, and I just don't know where that extra push is going to come fron, I know I will be thinking about that cold morning back in high school when my coach thought I would never finish a 5k, and I know I will be able to push through.

Here's to motivation, here's to making it through, here's to running.