bring on the taper

Wow. I am officially less than a week away from my first marathon!!?!

I can’t say that my training went exactly as I had hoped. My foot injury back in January put a big kink into things. As a result, I lost a full month of training.  Eventually, there was a slow attempt at easing back into running and then a focus primarily on increasing my distance…but not wanting to push my pace out of concern for a ‘too much, too fast’ injury.  Oh, and just to liven things up a sudden change in the shape of my feet required me to ditch my running shoes about a month ago and invest in a new pair. For the first time in my life I’m officially wearing a wide-width shoe?!

Looking back over the last few months, I wish I could have gotten more than only three runs in per week. I also wish I was able to add in regular speedwork.  But you know what??? Even though those things didn’t happen I’ve got NO complaints! I am so very thankful to even be running at all right now!

Once I started back-up in February I decided that I would scrap a time-goal entirely. The course is open for 6 hours and 30 minutes…that’s my new goal, BUT…I would consider myself very lucky if I were to come in around the 5 hour mark. Not a very lofty goal, but my mindset has changed since my injury. It was either take it a little easy for this one, or back out…and there was no way I was going to back out just because I wouldn’t be able to rip-up the course with a (relatively) speedy finish time!!

Since things were going so well and physically I was feeling 100% I decided to go ahead and register for a local 8k. I was a little nervous at first, the idea of ‘racing’ two weeks before a marathon didn’t seem to align with my very conservative training plan! I ended up deciding to do it about an hour before the race! To be honest, I think it was Boston that influenced my final decision. It was the Saturday after and I just felt like I wanted to run…to be with a group, at a race and run without any concern for a PR.

I’m so glad I showed up that morning!! It was a very challenging course…two MASSIVE hills, one was virtually a wall that I walked up while leaning forward with my hands on my thighs!! The other was a long, steep incline right up to the finish line.  Oooofah!!

I finished at 47 minutes…a 9:27 average pace. Five minutes longer than the Philly 8k back in November, but considering that I haven’t done any speedwork since December AND Philly was a totally FLAT course…well, I was pleasantly surprised!!

So, now I’m tapering. I know this because I am a paranoid wreck that I’ll get sick. Like right now…I suddenly have a sore throat, but is it a real sore throat or a taper sore throat??? If it’s a taper sore throat then I’m probably just thirsty : |

diy health challenge

On April 1st I joined up with The Greatist for their month-long DIY Health Challenge.

The plan is to cook one healthy meal and make time for at least 20 minutes of bodyweight exercise per day for the entire month of April. Unfortunately, I can’t include all of my training runs, but as luck would have it I’m also on-board for the Tara Stiles This is Yoga Challenge…so I’m easily fulfilling my 20 minutes per day. (If anyone is interested I started up a check-in group for this one over on Social Workout, so if you’re following along feel free to join up!!!)

As for the daily healthy meal, I’ve also been meeting my goal for that one everyday!! I’ve posted a few of the meals here already. Some days it’s as simple as a green-smoothie and kale/veggie salad for lunch or maybe just a veggie omelet with gluten-free toast and a handful of berries. At other times motivation strikes and I get a little more elaborate…

Such as (corn) pasta served with zucchini, yellow squash, polenta and marinara sauce.

Or last night I experimented for the first time with butternut squash. It’s amazing how intimidating it can be when you’re handling new ingredients for a meal?!

I tend to wing-it a bit in the kitchen, so I don’t follow just one recipe, but end up picking and choosing between several that I’ll find online.

In the end I thought this one came out great!

I served it with brown rice, so it was very filling and again my six-year-old loved it! She ate two bowls and thanked me for a ‘great dinner’…

*happiness*

accidental marathoner

Running. Yes. Still doing that too. In addition to all of the cooking and yoga that’s been going on around here I’ve also been continuing on with my marathon training. I’d like to say it’s been uneventful, but I’m not so sure you can train to run 26.2 miles in your limited spare time and not hit a snafu or two along the way. Regardless, things are moving along. I completed my first ever 18 mile run last weekend! Yesterday was a scale back long run, so I dropped down to 13 miles and next weekend I’ll peak at 20 miles before I begin to taper. The end is near!!

Over the last few months I’ve noticed that the shape of my feet have changed. I suppose a year of consistent running can do that. I had to retire my current pair of running shoes almost 200 miles early (bah!!) and move on up to my first pair of ‘wide-width’ shoes. Another year or so of running and I fear that my clown feet will force me to quit and join the circus instead.

I took the new pair out for a half-marathon distance spin yesterday and they’re significantly more comfortable. Excellent.

Over the last month I’ve also been experimenting with fueling options. I’m big on GU. I’ve tried several energy gels over the last year and I find that GU is not only the better tasting of the bunch, but I also tolerate it the best. However, there’s only so many GU’s you can suck down during a run before you start wishing no such thing existed. It gets progressively harder to choke them down as the miles rack up. I absolutely cannot eat solid food while running, so I started looking into alternatives.

So far the only thing I’ve come up with is Carbo Gain.

You mix a half a cup of powder with about 16 ounces of whatever you normally drink…whether it be your favorite sports drink or plain water (like me). It has very little taste to it, so it’s not in the least bit overwhelming. Basically it’s equivalent to one energy gel spread out over the course of your run. I’m now into uncharted territory distance-wise, but when I first started using it for anything over 9-10 miles I noticed that I was able to comfortably finish my run even though I was taking one less GU than usual. It’s a little sticky if you spill it, but it’s gluten, dairy and soy free which makes it a huge score for me!!!

I figure the more options I have the better since apparently I enjoy putting myself through the grueling efforts required for marathon training. This became evident when I very randomly, very spur-of-the-moment decided to register for the Marine Corps Marathon in October!?!?!?!?

I have no idea how that happened?! Especially considering how horribly wrong the entire registration process went. SO many runners tried for the entire 2+ hours registration was open (before selling out) and never got through.

After I registered I told my husband “I think I just accidentally registered for another marathon?!” That’s exactly how unprepared I was for making this decision!!! But I have to say, now that I’m registered I’m totally psyched!! This was the other marathon I was considering when I signed up for the New Jersey Marathon…I never imagined I would be able to do both, so I’m really excited to not only run MCM, but also that I’ll be joining my best running ‘bud at the start line!!!

fried rice

This morning my husband and I were discussing what to make for dinner tonight. I happened to be checking out Pinterest at the time and saw this recipe for Chicken Fried Rice. It sounded extremely good. Probably because I haven’t had fried rice since going gluten-free almost four years ago!!!

We pretty much followed the original recipe, with a few minor differences. We used tamari (wheat-free!) instead of regular soy sauce. (In addition to having Celiac I also have dairy and soy intolerances, but as long as my husband uses the tamari sparingly I seem to do okay with it.) We also tossed some bamboo shoots and water chestnuts in the wok.

It was absolutely fantastic!!!

I ate three bowls! This is why I run…or maybe it’s because I run?? Either way, I blame the five miles I ran this morning!

tara stiles yoga program

As previously mentioned, about a month or so ago I finally started back up with practicing yoga again. Up until this point, all of the videos (as well as the studio that I went to) offered up ‘traditional’ yoga. And that’s exactly what I was looking for. However, over the course of this challenge it was impossible to not come across Tara Stiles.

Tara is described just about everywhere as being a ‘rebel’ yoga instructor. I saw several articles where the authors had a lot of negativity to share regarding her method of teaching. Yet there were plenty more singing her praises.

Finally all of the controversy got to be too much for me. It’s like banned books. Tell me I should avoid something because it’s not in line with how things ‘should be’ and I suddenly HAVE to check it out immediately!!

So, on Day 21 (the last day of my Yoga Challenge) I opted for Tara Stiles Yoga Weight Loss and Balance. I was really curious about what I would end up doing with a yoga ‘rebel’ leading the way. During that hour we did some: plank position, upward dog, downward dog, forward bend, warrior pose, chair pose…wait.

WAIT.

What’s so rebel-ish about this??! Apparently, the only thing that makes her a rebel is that she chooses to use the English posture names as opposed to Sanskrit. Which being that English is my first (and only) language, it’s actually quite helpful.

Oh, and she also doesn’t randomly stop to tell me about how lotus flowers like ‘murky waters’ and to ‘root your sitting bones to the ground and give back the flow of energy to the Earth’.

Yeah, we’ve got a wild one here.

So, I didn’t find Tara all that rebel-ish. She offered up a nice 50-min long yoga practice. Pretty much the only thing that I didn’t like about her teaching style…

“Awesome, you guys.”

“Nice, you guys.”

Over. And OVER again, you guys.

Since that first video I’ve tried a few others by her and I’ve gotten past the “you guys” and I hardly even notice it anymore. Overall, I enjoy her straight forward style and really don’t see what all of the controversy is about.

Long story, even longer…I’ve decided to join up with her April Yoga Program!!

I’m actually really excited about it. I’ve already received her This Is Yoga collection, so I’m all set and ready to go!!

brownie bird nests

I had a post in mind that was all about running, but my daughter started spring break yesterday and I got a bit sidetracked.  So, the foodie posts continue, but this time there was absolutely nothing healthy going on in this kitchen!!!

She was supposed to help with frosting the brownies for our Springtime Bird Nests, but she spent most of the time eating frosting straight from the container and sneaking candy eggs when (she thought) I wasn’t looking. ‘Ya know, exactly what kids are supposed to do when they’re helping out with the baking.

 

vegan macs and cheese

The cooking streak continues!

Yesterday I decided to make Vegan Macs and “Cheese”. The idea of macs and cheese, without the cheese, isn’t really an appealing one to me. However, not only do I need to avoid gluten at all costs, but I’m also dairy and soy intolerant. So, macs and faux-cheese is really my only option.

I stumbled across a recipe for it by Tara Stiles. Normally, I wouldn’t post someone else’s recipe on my blog…I’d just link over to their post. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an actual typed-up recipe for it. Just a YouTube video. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely cannot cook with only a video to guide me. I can only imagine the look on my husband’s face when he arrived home to find the iPad coated in extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard…from all of the ‘rewinding’ while mid-prep!!!

It’s actually a pretty simple receipe…I started out by very lightly coating some chopped broccoli with extra virgin olive oil. I roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

While that was going, I pulled together the rest of the ingredients…

gluten-free corn pasta (any variety)

1 and 1/2 cups of cashews

1 cup of water

2 cloves of garlic (I used one MEGA clove)

red pepper flakes

1 (heaping) tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

sliced baby bella mushrooms

gluten-free Italian breadcrumbs (optional)

Into the blender went the cashews, water, garlic, Dijon mustard and a pinch of red peppers flakes. Once the pasta was cooked I drained it, tossed it back into the pot, added the broccoli, mushrooms and then poured in the blended cashew sauce. Once everything was mixed together I spread it all out into a 13×9 baking dish. Over the top, I sprinkled some g-free breadcrumbs then popped it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

That’s it!!

So, it would be a total lie if I said it tasted anything like macs and cheese. It doesn’t. At all. In fact, the name is misleading. Instead it should be called Vegan Cashew Pasta or Garlicky Pasta Casserole. Definitely not Macs and Cheese.

Regardless, it was actually really good. I was a little short on the cashews, so I think that’s why I felt as though it could have used more of the sauce. I also didn’t have any nutritional yeast. I looked for it at the store, but they didn’t carry it, so I skipped it entirely. I’m not a huge fan of garlic, so I probably could have used a little less. I think because there are minimal ingredients a little will go a long way.

I would definitely make this one again. Both my husband and I enjoyed it. Our daughter said it was ‘really good’ when she tried it, but the second she hit one of those red pepper flakes she refused to eat any more!! So maybe next time I’ll leave those on the side to add in afterwards.

roasted root

I don’t spend a whole lotta’ time in the kitchen. My husband is the ‘chef’ in this house. I mostly do the clean-up and sometimes a little prep-work…like chopping, grating, slicing, etc.

However, I recently decided that I’d like to change this. My husband usually makes large meals on the weekends. We tend to have leftovers early on during the week, but by Wednesday/Thursday the cupboards are bare. I’m starting to feel like it’s time I learned how to make a few easy dishes to get us through the remainder of the week.

Today was my first attempt and I discovered very early on just how clueless I am when it comes to all-things-cooking!!

I started out by grabbing random ingredients from the fridge. Which brings us to…Issue #1: I had absolutely no game plan. None. No recipe. No vision as to what would end up on my plate. Nothing. Just random food items.

I opted to use brown rice as a ‘filler’. So, I pulled out the steamer, grabbed the bag of rice and…realized that I didn’t know how to cook rice in it. A flurry of text messages to/from my husband followed as he coached me through it.

With that set, I started rinsing the veggies. This was pretty straight forward until I got to the beets. Issue #2: I’ve never in my life prepared beets before. I stood staring at them for a while, wondering what on Earth I was going to do with them??? Until finally I noticed that my limited time was getting even more limited, so I grabbed a peeler and went to work. I decided the best (and easiest) thing to do would be to cut everything, toss them in a baking dish and roast ’em up.

I added a little salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the garlic that I know I bought Wednesday night!!! I ended up skipping it. Hoping for the best, I put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. I had no idea how long this was all going to take. I ended up pulling it out about 10 minutes before it was done, so I could pick my oldest up at the bus stop. Then restarted the oven and cooked it the rest of the way when we got home.

I filled our bowls with the rice, some chickpeas, sliced grape tomatoes and a few spoonfuls of the roasted veggies. It wasn’t the most creative and flavorful meal I’ve ever had, but…it was tasty and very filling. I definitely enjoyed it.

Afterwards, I typed up my very basic ‘recipe’, so maybe next time I won’t need to inundate my husband with so many cooking queries via text!!

oatmeal breakfast casserole

This morning I decided to do a little experimenting in the kitchen. A while back I came across a recipe for a Breakfast Casserole. I had forgotten all about it until this week, so last night I did some food shopping and picked up all of the ingredients.

I’m not entirely sure how ‘healthy’ it is when you take into consideration all of the brown sugar and the chocolate chips?!

But I figure the fresh fruit, gluten-free oats and almond milk balance it all out. That’s how it works, yes???

It was very easy to throw all of the ingredients together and it probably would have taken much less time if I didn’t keep stopping to take pictures of everything!

It came out absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Really, very good and worth the effort. Both my husband and my daughter agree this is a keeper.

As for the full recipe, I’ll give credit where credit is due and direct you to the original post that inspired me. I had to make a few small changes to accommodate not only my gluten issues, but also my dairy/soy intolerances (I substituted with almond milk, Enjoy Life mini-choco chips and Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread).

My biggest issue right now is that I’m having a hard time not finishing the entire thing in less than 24 hours!!

mile two monstrosity

17-mile long run…complete. I am well over halfway there!! On Saturday, I decided on a completely different route than I normally take. I knew there were going to be a few big hills, but the idea of just a straight out and back seemed a lot better than having to snake through side streets and crossing relatively busy intersections.

There was a monstrosity at mile two that seemed endless!! I started pushing my way through it and at about halfway I looked up to find that the end was nowhere near being in sight. Once I finally made it to the top I still had 15 miles to go.  Ooofah.

In the end, it was a really good run. Very challenging at times, but I was able to push through and felt pretty solid the whole way. Since coming back from my foot injury I’ve been running during the week on the treadmill, so when I head out for a long run on the weekend it’s probably a really good idea to get some hills in anyway. My hope is that it will all balance out, particularly since the NJ Marathon appears to be a pretty flat course. Once it warms up a bit I’m hoping to start getting outside at least once for a mid-week run as well.

In other news, I had to retire my Nathan Quickshot***. Only for a bit, but I was sad to see it go. The Quickshot is beyond awesome, I trained with it all summer last year and it was perfect for the half-marathon I ran back in October. Unfortunately, 10 ounces won’t cut it for marathon training. I tend not to drink a whole ton of water, because I get stomach cramping pretty easily, so I figure 16 oz should be enough to get me through. Of course on race day there will be water stops I can utilize, but I always run with my own water as well. When I stop at a fluid station during a race I tend to take an unneeded walk break and they do add up by the end. So, I utilize them when necessary, but not every time.

The new 16 ouncer I’ve taken out on my 15-miler last weekend and my 17-miler this past weekend and it officially has my seal of approval!! The Amphipod Hydraform Handheld In-Touch. My iphone 4S fits perfectly inside of it (without it’s case and there’s no hole for the earbuds, so you have to loop the wire around and out below the zipper) and there’s room to spare! It’s comfortable and it was definitely worth the investment!

***btw, in the quickshot post linked above i mentioned that it kept leaking…turns out it was NOT the quickshot, but the fact that i was putting a nuun tablet in…the carbonation was creating too much pressure. once i started putting plain water in the leaking stopped entirely.

a gentle nudge

The 21-day yoga challenge ended last week, but I’m still going at it. I have seriously fallen in love with yoga. I enjoyed it when I was practicing regularly several years ago, but this is very different.

Back then I was all about the workout. It had to be intense and I would only do it twice a week because I didn’t feel like it burned enough calories to make it worthwhile. I would only do Bikram because I felt like that was the only variety that would actually get my heart pumping. I often classified all other forms of yoga as being ‘boring’.

I don’t know if it’s a maturity-thing…I’m definitely older and maybe a smidge wiser. Or maybe I’m just in a better place body-image-wise. Whatever the reason, I’m no longer consumed with the calorie burn rate while practicing. I’ve been working on casting aside my competitive-spirit every time I step on my mat. Basically, I’m letting everything go and allowing myself to really enjoy this time that I’m setting aside for myself every day.

Yesterday I was rewarded with my first obvious sign of improvement during practice. My shoulders are (and always have been) extremely tight. For years I’ve done a lot of working-out with weights. Bench-press, pec-fly, delt-rows, etc. I suppose all of that must have caught up with me because back in August while doing a very simple/routine exercise I completely destroyed my left shoulder. It literally felt as if it crumpled like a piece of paper.

I went a while with limited mobility. Eventually it got to the point where I could move it freely again, but it’s never really been the same. I try to be mindful of it during practice, but not leave it out entirely. I’ve already discovered that to not do anything at all makes it far worse! I do what I can and I stretch to the point where it’s challenging, but not painfully so. It’s been long enough now that I know it’s limitations.

Then yesterday as I was in a wide-legged forward bend, I laced my fingers and lifted my arms above my back.

I went as far as I usually do without discomfort, but then all of the sudden…whoa.

It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost as though someone gave me the gentlest of nudges…my shoulders widened slightly and my arms gently dropped much further than they normally do. I felt an openess and flexibility in that shoulder that hasn’t been there in quite some time! It was fantastic!!!

I also recently decided to start checking out yoga in the printed word. A yogi memoir, some yogi fiction (who knew there was such a thing??) and now a 365 day journey exploring yoga.

Apparently, Meditations from the Mat is the yogi equivalent to the runner’s Born to Run! Hopefully, it ends up being just as good!

Hot Chocolate Training Run

Yesterday the New Jersey Marathon hosted a Hot Chocolate Training Run in Long Branch. They mapped out routes for a 10k, 15k or 15 mile run. I decided to make the trip down…regardless of the fact that it meant I needed to be up by 4AM (or 3 depending on how you look at it #daylightsavings). There were a few reasons I opted to go: 1) the route would be a 15 mile preview of the marathon course 2) I’m DONE with running the same tired roads all the time, a change of scenery sounded perfect to me 3) it’s always nice to have other runners along for company, even if they are total strangers and 4) i’d be running alongside the ocean, which alone made the drive worth it!!

I made a pretty big jump in mileage for this one. Last weekend I did 11 wonderfully comfortable and relaxing miles, but 15 yesterday?! That’s a big jump, more than I really wanted to make. My plan was to start out with the group and run no less than 13 miles. IF by the end I felt like I was pushing too hard, I would cut it short.

As it turned out, it was a good run and a great experience. I’m very happy that I went. The race directors did a great job with the route signs and the (help yourself) water/gatorade stations. It felt fantastic to have that oceanview during a good portion of the run and just the opportunity to mix things up from my typical routine was extremely nice.

I completed all 15 miles and made it unscathed!

Those last three miles were definitely tough…I ended up taking four short walk breaks during that time. I’m not a big fan of walk breaks, but considering where I was just a month ago I certainly will not be complaining about it!!!

With this 15-miler under my belt I’m now caught up with the weekly long run mileage on my training plan…which means I no longer need to make any ridiculously big mileage jumps AND I’ll be able to fit a 20-miler in before I begin to taper. All very good news.

So, I came home. Showered. Put on my compression socks (which I am now completely in love with and a total supporter of!) and tried to remain as sedentary as possible for about three solid hours.

My husband must have anticipated my refueling needs because while I was gone he baked a double-batch of gluten-free cornbread. I ate half the loaf already. No way will this thing last to see tomorrow!