Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cliff's notes: Good at procrastination, bad at football


Kari's post this morning reminded me that we are somehow less than two weeks out from the Delaware marathon. That certainly happened fast.

I probably forgot because it doesn't exactly seem like we are in a taper. A taper is supposed to be easy, but not on Run Less Run Faster, apparently. The runs are getting shorter, but they still cause me to run screaming from my phone when I finally get up the courage to check my calendar to see what's next.

Saturday was supposed to be 13 miles at goal marathon pace, 8:53. Ok actually that one is pretty easy, I'll come back with some examples of tough stuff in another post. Still, even though I wasn't hungover after my wild Friday night, I didn't exactly feel like king of the world on Saturday. Back when you're 22, going to bed at 3am is no big deal, because you can easily sleep in till noon, but with 30 around the corner, I think it's safe to say those days are gone. Staying up until the wee hours of the morning = this princess doesn't get her precious 8 hours. 

So I was a little tired, and more to the point, horribly unmotivated. I procrastinated until around 1pm and then finally just cried uncle on the run and wrote a paper and baked banana bread instead. Obviously I would have had to write the paper anyway, but without the run I had the proper time to check Facebook every 4 minutes and make the writing take approximately triple the time it should have.

No worries on the run, the weekend wasn't over. I set my alarm nice and early Sunday morning so I could run before work. When it went off, I immediately nixed that plan and reset it for two hours later. My bed always feels amazing, but sometimes it's just extra fabulous. I barely made it up in time to throw on some running clothes in time to get to work, and when I did finally wake up I was just super pissed that I wasn't in bed any more. Does this happen to anyone else, or just me?

 After work, I had to rush home to pick up Eric, just to turn right back around and go to our football game which was in the same area. Apparently whatever is wrong with my car requires more slave labor than they thought to fix, and it's still in the shop. But that's fine, who doesn't love an extra hour in the car on Sunday to help you relax?

We had a super close game, although we eventually lost. There were no girl subs, so that meant I spent the entire 40 minutes of playing time doing repeated sprints, yet somehow not touching the ball or helping the team at all. Once our loss was official, I dropped Eric off at Starbucks, and finally started my run somewhere around 4:30 pm. Surprisingly enough, all those sprints didn't seem to help my run in the slightest. Although I did end up with an 8:53 pace exactly, so who knows?

After the run, we met our friends for dinner. You know you have good friends when they still want to eat with you if you show up dripping in sweat. Not only that, but they didn't judge me for cleaning my plate and devouring a metric ton of frozen yogurt, and even let me finish off their dinner. 

Somehow I've gotten into some sort of weird pattern where I'm behind in blogging. I feel like I should talk about this week, since it's already Tuesday night, but this post is already kind of long and has no pictures, so I think it's a wrap. Plus I'm sure we all want something to look forward to. 

Since there's no pictures, here's the cliff's notes if you skipped this post: reasons I need procrastinators anonymous and how to make your long run suck by doing sprints immediately prior. Imagine me laying on the couch and not catching a football.

What's your favorite procrastination tool? I can go with blogs, words with friends, Facebook, baking, and I'll even turn to cleaning if I get truly desperate.

Monday, April 29, 2013

How you like your eggs, fried or fertilized?



This Run Less, Run Faster training cycle has been challenging, but Friday I overcame what may have been my biggest challenge yet. 

At 5:30 on Friday, I was in a spin class, not halfway through a bottle of wine. And that was after doing Jillian Michael No More Trouble Zones!

Yeah, I may have just given up alcohol completely for 30 days, but I'm an all or nothing person, so as soon as it's back on the table, it calls to me. Plus, I had a truly awful Friday. Let's just say that I don't think I've ever made it to April, much less nearly May, without crying in front of my boss, and after Friday that's all shot to hell. 

Luckily, we had a much anticipated, wild night in store. Eric and my friend John are serious fans of youtube sensation Turquoise Jeep records. Never heard of them? Here's the video that sucked us in.



If you thought that was life changing, and more importantly want to understand the rest of the pictures on this post, check out some of their other classics. Our favorites include Treat Me Like a Pirate, Shuyamouf, Cavities, Stretchy Pants, and Fried or Fertilized.

They were playing at this really classy place in a super nice section of Baltimore, like the kind you usually only see on the Wire. Here's a shot I took of the stage on our way out.


FANCY
We almost had a mental breakdown when we all got together at around 8pm and found out Turquoise Jeep wouldn't be taking the stage until 11:45 pm. Our little group spends a lot of Friday nights together and we generally say goodbye around 10 so we can all be tucked into bed by 10:30.

But, we rallied. We filled the time with acting out songs and tweeting pictures to Turquoise Jeep in hopes they would recognize us out of the massive crowd when we arrived. Thank God, because there had to have been at least 30 people at the concert.


Chocolate in your mouth/fried or fertilized

Showing off the stretchy pants
Smang it

Turns out, Turquoise Jeep also has some instructional videos on youtube where you can learn their dance moves. Those really came in handy. One advised you to sit cross legged and then have someone push you over.



You can really never go wrong with just your basic rocking out.



We channeled our inner 22 year olds, and finally headed out around 10:30. When we got to the bar, we realized Turquoise Jeep was kind of a big deal.





Like Long Islands, but turquoise 


I didn't even know this picture was taken.
Finally, around midnight, the big moment was upon us, and it was all we hoped for and more. I stayed awake, which was a major highlight, but that wasn't all. Carolyn and I got pulled on stage for the last song, along with most of the other women in the crowd, but we were the only ones who had practiced the dance! 
Unfortunately right now the video of this practice session  it can only be viewed on Eric's and our actual performance are stuck on Eric's phone (yet another reason why the iphone reigns superior over the droid) but I promise I'm working on getting them off.

My favorite member of the group is Yung Humma.



I'm not trying to brag, but when we took this beautiful picture, he told me I was his favorite too.



We didn't go to sleep until nearly 3am, but it was so worth it. And unlike some people assumed, I didn't wake up hungover on Saturday. I only had one turquoise jeep (the drink), and due to my complete lack of inhibition and willingness to make a fool of myself, I can dance on stage without being intoxicated. I actually have a ton of practice.

I realize this post probably won't really do much for people who don't know who the hell "Turquoise Jeep" is, but I really enjoyed writing it and reliving the memories, and that's what counts. And if I converted just one person out there to a fan, my life is complete.

Have you ever done any or all of the following?
  1. cried in front of your boss
  2. danced on stage
  3. closed down a bar past the age of 25 (and if you haven't got there yet just enjoy your youth dammit)
If not....well....try living a little :)

Friday, April 26, 2013

A retraction, and more first world pain

You are free to ignore my previous post - Carnival came through and booked us on an alternate cruise, with an upgrade to our room! Vacation on! I can resume my fantasies during my runs about sipping pina coladas in the tropics. We celebrated by ordering chinese food and baking brownies, because, as Eric pointed out, our new cruise isn't until August (instead of June), so we have an extra two months to get in cruise shape.

I didn't want to muddy the issue of yesterday's rant by going off on another rant in the same post, but, believe it or not, I've experienced further first world pain this week. Actually, in the very same day. After the devastation of finding out our vacation was off, I pressed on, somehow. I taught children, did paperwork, sold running shoes, and hung clothing. Finally, about 9:30 pm, I thought I was going home. My car had other plans. 

Remember how we just freaking dropped a crap ton of money on slave labor to fix that thing? I'm guessing not, because seriously any time a blogger says "remember when....", I can pretty much guarantee that I don't remember, I have my own life to keep track of, and all. Well the car didn't remember either, and as I was about to enter Baltimore's lovely underwater tunnel, it stopped accelerating, and then just....stopped. By some miracle, it started again, and I entered through the tunnel, begging out loud like crazy for the car to make it to the other side. 

I made it, called my stepfather for advice, and barely got a word out before the whole damn car started banging and shaking, and stopped again. I traumatized him by keeping him on the phone for the first part of my panic attack, then hung up and blew up Eric's phone. Even though I knew he was in Krav Maga class and didn't have his phone on him, calling your husband over and over is an effective method of solving any problem. Finally I wised up and called AAA, but at this point I was sobbing so hysterically the person who answered could barely understand me. Have I mentioned I'm a good person to have around in the event of a crisis?

Anyway, long story short, Eric came down, the car was towed, and it can be fixed with a minimum amount of slave labor this time. And we had a delicious dinner of burgers and wings at midnight.

Somehow, I managed to fit some training in this week. It wasn't easy, because my schedule was jam packed with bitching, moaning, whining, and complaining on social media, but I did it.

Monday: I was supposed to do 5 miles at 8:15, but since I ran my 10k Saturday at a 7:39 pace, I gave myself a break and ran it at an 8:49 pace. On the treadmill. Because I was in the mood to watch The Hunger Games.

Tuesday: 30 minutes elliptical, 45 minute Body Sculpt class. My hips are ridiculously weak.

Wednesday: Jillian Michaels Boost Your Metabolism. My back is sore. So are my abs.

Thursday: 8 x 800 at 7:14 pace. Holy crap this was hard, even with wimping out on the treadmill again (I wanted to watch Buffy). I warmed up for just under 2 miles at 9:30, then started the fun stuff. The plan called for 1:30 rest intervals in between the fast parts, but once again, that would require all sorts of crazy unacceptable math.  I just did .2 rest intervals, varying between walking 15 minute miles and running 10 minute miles. After that torture I cooled down at 9:30-9:14 until I hit 8 miles. 

Posting without pictures of myself is unacceptable. Here's some really funny pictures of our last Carnival adventure. At least, they are funny to me, and that's what's important.

Pirate in Jamaica

Trying snail. Also I got my hair braided.



Eric's favorite part of our entire honeymoon.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Carnival Cruises - the scourge of the seven seas

Edited to add: Since writing this post, Carnival has rebooked us with an upgrade! We are thrilled and are super excited to repeat our great honeymoon experience this August!

This pretty much sums up why I haven't posted this week.


But I've gotten to the point where I have some rage that I need to share, so it's time for a post. 

Hey, remember that whole Carnival Triumph debacle a few months ago? Where it lost power, became completely disgusting and unlivable, and had to get towed into port? 




Well, we were actually on that ship on our honeymoon 5 years ago.


This summer is our 5 year anniversary, and my 30th birthday, so we decided to book another Carnival cruise. People actually laughed at us for spending money to potentially vacation at a shit factory, but as someone who has actually visited a shit factory, I disagreed. In fact, we actually defended Carnival, and we were all like "it's cool! everyone makes mistakes! it's ok Carnival!".

Little known fact: teachers don't make much money. So to fund this vacation, we picked up extra after school tutoring, and we both worked second jobs. It sucked, but it would be totally worth it when we were enjoying our tropical vacation, right?

Well, we found out this week that on my birthday, which is during the week of the cruise, there is a mandatory training for summer school. If we missed it, neither one of us would be earning any income over the summer. Not exactly an option.

But still, that shouldn't be a problem. I mean, Carnival has had nothing but bad press, so surely they would help out two loyal customers who had consistently defended them. All we wanted to do was switch to a cheaper cruise in August, and even though we would lose a little money, it would still be worth it.

Oh, nah, Carnival was all like "nope, sorry poor teachers, you know what would be more fun for us? Just keeping your money and screwing you over. Sorry you spend all those extra hours at work and all saving up, that probably sucked". Actually, first they were like "we'll just keep you on hold for as long as possible, because we know teachers have nothing but time during business hours to deal with these sorts of things".

I wasn't satisfied with the answer "no, we'd like to totally f%$# you over for no apparent reason", so I called back today. This time, I got a vague "maybe you can switch, oh wait, no, probably not, um, no, we forgot our policy was we hate customers, sorry we're not sorry". So I attempted to contact them online, and I got this helpful email!



That works out really well, because as of right now, we can only receive 50% of our payment back, and soon, it will go up to 75%! Probably around the time Carnival actually gets in touch with me! I'm actually thinking I am going to cut and paste this and use it as my response every time my boss or a parent emails me. Having an extra 7-10 to fart around will really cut down on a lot of my work load and reduce my stress! (Just kidding please don't fire me we can't afford vacations as it is.)

Please note the email address  - "iCare@carnival.com". Ha, I guess the joke is on us, Carnival! You really got us. Enjoy our money! 


Sunday, April 21, 2013

The secret to success is a 14 mile warm up




Hey, remember how I was all smug on Friday morning about how I was going to return to Whole30 for the day and then slowly reintroduce foods one at a time?


It didn't work out quite as planned.
It lasted until about 6pm. I had bought fresh baked french bread to reintroduce grains on Saturday, and I just had to have a piece. And what the hell is the point of bread without butter? And you know what goes great with bread? An oreo McFlurry. And you know what really helps wash that down? Wine. And so Whole30 was really, truly over.

I was pretty sure that meant I was screwed on my run the next day, but what was done was done. I picked up my bib for the 10k, then began my solo 14 miles around 6am.


Selfie or it didn't happen.
I ran the first 14 at an average 9:05 pace and was surprised how by easy it felt. I made a quick pit stop at my car to change shoes, eat a Gu, and refill my water, then lined up for the 10k. 

Kara texted me before her 10k last weekend, and my advice single-handledly led her to success. I decided text her while I was waiting for the race to begin in the hope that it would help me as well. I actually laughed out loud when I read her advice.



The race began at 9, and I had to work at 10, so I was hoping to run it in about 54 minutes, which would give me time to change clothes and gulp some water before I clocked in. I'd never run a sub-50 10k before, my PR was 51:31.

We started out, and after a minute or so going frustratingly slow at the congested start, I settled into a comfortably hard pace. I tried not to look too much at my watch, and just go by feel. I actually walked twice in the first two miles because my phone kept playing Eric's terrible music for some reason and I simply can't run listening to that crap.

I found my friend Alex during the third mile and cheered him on and ran with him a little. He made the huge mistake of trying to talk to me, and while he was midsentence I yelled "NO MORE TALKING. FOCUS ON RUNNING" and then sprinted off. It was around this time I had realized that there was potential for a PR, and that really requires all my mental faculties. 

I shocked myself by crossing the finish line at 48:06 (chip time). 


I managed to fit in some quick instagramming as I walked from the finish line to work.

Average pace 7:39 - seriously how did that happen?

There was a lot of nice, flat running, which helped, but those hills at the end felt tough.



I really couldn't believe how good I felt throughout the race, and I am actually kicking myself a bit because I feel I could have pushed it harder. I'm not sure what to attribute this race to. It could have been Whole30, it could have been the McFlurry, it could have been the Run Less Run Faster training, or it could have been the fact that Kara promised she wrote "Alyssa can do it" on a post it as soon as she got my text. It's an enigma, really.

At the finish line. #sobeautiful

I was flying high on PR glory, so although work was crazy I was in a good mood and it went by pretty fast. Plus, Eric was playing running store bouncer! Although I am firmly opposed to married couples working together, at least in our marriage, it was fun to hang out with him when things died down.

Here's what went down Saturday night. Stuffed crust pizza unpictured.




Help me make a decision - what factor really led to this race success? 

Or if you don't want it to be all about me - what's the first thing you would eat after a month of no dairy/sugar/alcohol/grains?


Friday, April 19, 2013

Racing to work

I spent the past two days on the exciting project of reintroducing dairy to my life. I'm not sure yogurt ever tasted so good, my overpriced fancy $6 cheese was 100% worth the cost, and so far my only stomach pain is from the ab portion of Body Pump last night.

After you reintroduce a food, you are supposed to go back to Whole30 style eating before you reintroduce the next one. So today I'm back to basics, and the #1 thing on my to do list after work is "buy bread" for tomorrow. 

I'm feeling like this is the only time I'll actually revert back to Whole30 style eating. I plan to speed up the reintroduction process significantly. In two weeks, I'm going to alumni weekend at my alma mater. My sister and I have big plans for alumni weekend, and they mainly center around significant amounts of eating and drinking, and I don't mean eating steamed broccoli and lean ground turkey. I'm not taking any chances, and want my stomach to have a little time to get used to grease, sugar, and most importantly, alcohol before then. 

Last night in Body Pump (a weight lifting class), the class voted off the lunge portion and decided on extra abs instead. I've been going for like 7 years and I've never experienced an instructor who allowed this sort of democracy, and I was kind of pissed at first, but then I came around. I could barely run for 3 days due to the lunges after the last time I went. I never, ever do abs on my own, and I have this little thing coming up exactly 2 months from today called my 30TH BIRTHDAY, so maybe a little extra work getting little in the middle couldn't hurt.

Photo: lmao!!!  *T.D*
My husband and I don't communicate during the work day,
but he does post things like this on my Facebook page.

Today is another cross training day, so I went to spin class this morning. Tomorrow is my last 20 miler before the Delaware marathon, which I just realized is only 3 weeks away?!

Tomorrow should be an interesting experience. Our running store puts on a 10k that's a huge deal and really popular. I'm going to get an early start on the first 14 miles, and then run the race. Normally, I'd probably take it easy and just do the race as a way to mix up my long run a bit, but I can't. The race is at 9, and I am working at 10. So I'll have some motivation to push it. The race ends pretty much right outside the store, so I'll literally run past the finish line, run inside, and get on the register. Unless I somehow magically develop the ability to run a 40 minute 10k, which is especially likely at the end of a 20 miler. Everyone in the store will have just run the race though, so I'll fit right in being all sweaty.

What type of exercise would you vote out of your life? What would you double up to make up for it?

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Three things Thursday - mental incompetence edition


As I sat here this morning reflecting on the items I wanted to include in my post, I realized they are essentially both examples of my mental incompetence. So, I'll do a Three Things Thursday about how I tend to be dumb. I only have two in mind as I start, but coming up with a third shouldn't be too challenging.

Thinking fail #1 - My Training Days

Kari and I have been following the Run Less Run Faster plan, which only includes 3 runs per week. When we initially discussed it, we mapped it all out on google calendar (actually she did that, I didn't really help at all) and our weekday runs were Tuesdays and Thursdays.

After suffering through two weeks of late Wednesday nights (I get home from my second job at about 10pm and that's basically an all nighter in my world) and then waking up at the crack of dawn exhausted on Thursdays, it finally occurred to me to shift the runs to Mondays and Wednesdays. Duh. 

Thinking fail # 2 - Pacing

 As I'm sure no one remembers or cares, when we first began RLRF, I nearly died on trying to hold the prescribed paces, and ended up having to go slower. That was also when it was still below freezing and sometimes snowing in the mornings, and right after I got my favorite new toy, so all my runs were on the treadmill. Our treadmill is fantastic, and I am not putting her down in any way. But she doesn't tell you the pace you are running, just mph (aka you can set it at 6.0 but it won't tell you that is equivalent to 10 minute miles. 

I was using this conversion chart. But numbers are hard. And charts are hard. So on Monday, I realized I was reading it wrong.

I was looking at the circled column.


When I thought I was running an 8:15 mile, I was actually running a 7:54 mile. Mystery solved. 

Thinking fail #3 (I thought of it.) My Training Times

As I mentioned, even on Monday, which was day 29 of Whole30, I still had no Tiger Blood, and couldn't drag myself out of bed. When I got home from work, I ran to the track to do my speed intervals. I failed to take into account that it's spring now, so there was some sort of game going on inside the track, and bleachers full of parents watching. I turned around and ran home to do my intervals on the treadmill without an audience. 

So far, I've had another good week of training (knock on wood). 

Monday: 2.25 miles outside (to and from the track), interval workout on the treadmill. Run a 400 (quarter mile) at 7:09, easy jog a 400 (10:00 mile), repeat ten times, cool down for .75 miles

Tuesday: Early morning spin class - this turned out to be significantly harder than I thought. My quads were screaming, which is probably a good thing.

Wednesday: 8 miles at goal marathon pace (GMP), 8:53. I woke up at 4:45, had some coffee and a snack, and then felt strong during the run and ended up running at an average pace of 8:40. This surprised me because usually I can barely hold a 9:40 pace and then I just blame the hills and earlyness. 

I hope this post has made you feel smarter in comparison, which was my intention.

Any thinking fails this week?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Adios Whole30!



 Like many of you, I've been watching a lot of horrific news footage and been thinking of those in Boston. While I know many runners have quite eloquent posts up regarding their thoughts on this tragedy, I'm not going to discuss it on my blog. It's sickening, and I don't really know any other way to say that. I've decided to return to my normal posting schedule.








Because now I'm free to eat them! Whole30 has been successfully completed!

Yesterday was our day 30. I really wish I'd put some money down on me making it this long, because I'm pretty sure I could have won some cash from friends and family, who (rightfully so) never thought me and sugar would survive this long of a separation.

So, today, you might be imagining me chowing down on nachos for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and a wheel of cheese followed by a brownie sundae for dinner. 




Well, that's extremely tempting, believe me, I've imagined it too. But of course, Whole30 can't make anything simple. The book recommends a strict "reintroduction" schedule.


source
 I've spent the past few weeks growing more and more skeptical of this whole thing, so naturally I was tempted to just scrap it and move back to my former sugary ways. But there was a part of me that recognized that I didn't give up all my favorite foods for a month (and refrain from touching a single piece of Easter candy) just to throw it all away and learn nothing. Also, my mom advised me to follow the schedule, probably so I don't end up curled up in the fetal position crying because I just ate a wheel of cheese. So far, her advice has always been 100% accurate (how annoying was THAT in high school?), meaning that brownie sundae will have to wait. 

When Eric came home last night, I informed him that we were on day 30 and we were supposed to reintroduce foods slowly starting in the morning. The book says you don't have to follow their schedule exactly, so he created his own version of reintroduction.


"29 days and 30 hours is CLOSE ENOUGH"

Good news - Eric has promised to do a guest post on his Whole30 experience.

Nevertheless, I'm ridiculously excited to eat yogurt for breakfast tomorrow and I have super fancy cheese from Wegmans with my dinner. 


I'm a cheese snob

Now that I'm looking at this reintroduction schedule again, it seems pretty cruel to start off with dairy, and then make me give it up again just so I can try beans and lentils. 10 more days is also sounding like quite a long time, too. 

I'm going to reserve completely judging Whole30 until I reintroduce everything, because maybe I'll take a bite of yogurt and feel horrible and only then can I truly appreciate how wonderful Whole30 was. Doubtful, but you never know.

However, I will share some preliminary thoughts:
  • I feel like I ate a lot of delicious food on Whole30 and didn't really feel deprived.
  • Giving up sugar wasn't nearly as hard as I expected it to be.
  • I hit the snooze button hard on Monday (aka day 29), so I think it's safe to say that Tiger Blood energy isn't in the cards for me. 
  • Clear skin is out too, and if I ever meet the person who started that rumor, I WILL bitch slap him or her.
  • Based on my pre and post weigh in, I lost about 4 pounds. Not exactly front page news, but considering I ate a ton, wasn't really ever hungry and didn't count a single calorie, that's pretty good.
  • Similar to my experience with GORUCK, I'm pretty sure this was a crazy idea, don't see myself doing it again, and yet I am still going to pat myself on the back for doing something that I was positive would be impossible for me.
What would a fad diet have to promise to convince you to follow it? The clear skin, Tiger Blood energy and faster running really sucked me in here.




Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Praying for Boston


Along with everyone else, I was horrified to hear of the events yesterday in Boston. It was a sad, sad day.

My thoughts continue to be with everyone affected by this tragedy.





Sunday, April 14, 2013

My apology



During Whole30, I've subjected my loyal blog readers to a lot of rants and a lot of weird, questionable looking food. The rants are far from over, but this weekend I was able to eat something so magical that I knew presenting pictures of it would redeem me at least a little bit.

Friday night was girls night with my BFFs, and what better way is there to accomplish female bonding than to attend a food truck rally? 

Sorry people I just put on the internet stuffing their faces.
The gorgeous view
I figured there would be nothing I could eat, so I packed some spaghetti squash, other veggies, and grilled chicken to eat at Carolyn's house after my friends enjoyed fancy truck food. But lo and behold: there was something for me. And it was something freaking EPIC.



A chicken taco, with pico and guacamole. 



Doesn't sound epic? 




How about if I told you the taco shell was made entirely of BACON?

Heaven in a little cardboard tray
I cannot even describe the joy I felt here.
I had to hold it up, to attempt to show just how much bacon there was.
If you were wondering, the normal rules of etiquette don't apply while you are eating a bacon taco, because it's too good to adhere to them. After the pictures, I scarfed it down before my friends' food was even ready and sort of tried to pretend like I was following the conversation but was really just listening to a monologue of "BACONBACONBACONBACON" in my own head.

The food truck rally also had some sort of fire performance, and a dj, and people dancing. Interesting.

I love to watch fire juggling as I eat bacon.
The only downside was that, as you can see, there was cheese on it. I tried to pick it all off, but it's pretty likely I ingested that a few shreds anyway, so I'll have to start Whole30 all over again. Oh, and the fact that my friends got gourmet cupcakes for dessert, and I had to settle for some of my spaghetti squash and black decaf coffee.

Saturday morning was fantastic, due to Mother Nature. We are at that point (at least this weekend) where it's warm enough to enjoy running in a tshirt and shorts, yet not necessary to hit the pavement prior to 6am to avoid melting in the heat. So I slept in until I felt like moving, relaxed with some coffee, and headed out for my long run at the late hour of 11am. 

RLRF said to do 15 miles at 9:23, I did 15 miles at 9:13. I felt great, and was so into the run I just zoned out to Pandora, and didn't feel like listening to my audiobook as a distraction, even though it's really good.

Sunday was one of my rest days, but it was slightly less than restful. I did Kari's "Proof You Didn't Peak in High School" mile challenge. The last time I did it, I waited until the very last day of the month, and then was in rough shape due to a late night drinking on a pirate ship, and forced to suffer through a hot, horribly hungover run. I ran the mile in 7:18. I ran the last mile of my recent ten miler in 7:14, so I had high hopes I could do better.

I had a secret goal of sub 7, and despite starting out way too fast, I knocked it out in 6:46.

Awkward selfie at the track
Delightfully sweaty proof
After that picture, I barely had time to change my shirt and shoes before we needed to head to football. We had no girl subs, so I played the entire time and it was quite a workout! Another loss in the books. 

What's something you've eaten or would like to eat that's just off the charts ridiculous and amazing like my bacon taco? One time we saw a donut bacon burger on Man vs. Food and immediately went to the store to recreate it for Eric to eat. By the way, we are totally doing that again after Whole30.

Did my little joke about starting over give you a chuckle? Ha, no way in hell. I have 2.5 days left and not a moment more.











Thursday, April 11, 2013

The best bill I've ever received

I was glad to hear I didn't put anyone off eating for life with my WIAW Whole30 post yesterday. I had a lot of people ask about the cauliflower "rice" and to be honest, it's good but don't bother. It's a good way to cut calories I guess but it takes forever and makes a mess. Just either eat the rice or the cauliflower as is.

Speaking of Whole30, we have FIVE DAYS LEFT. I just bought yogurt and cheese for my triumphant return to dairy on Wednesday!

So far, this week has been a major RLRF success, knock on wood. This is my first week on the plan while actually working full time, and I was nervous. 

Tuesday, the workout was 3x1600 at 7:27 with 400 RI. Aka run to the track, run a mile in 7:27, walk around the track once, repeat 2 more times, run home. I hadn't run in the early dark mornings in so long I had almost forgotten about my knuckle lights! My 3 fast miles ended up being 7:40, 7:27, and 7:30, so pretty close to what I needed them to be. They felt gruesome, but I guess that's the whole point.

Other than the cauliflower rice, people commented on the fact that I did speedwork without eating first. I've been just getting up and running in the morning for so long I normally don't even think about stopping for a snack, and I'm obviously not hungry that early. But, those comments solidified my idea to try something crazy before my next early run - getting up even earlier to sit and eat. 

My next run was 10 miles at GMP (goal marathon pace) and I had been fretting about it for like 2 days, because I knew it would be tough. While GMP might not be much of a challenge later in the day, ten minutes after waking up it usually feels like an all out sprint. This training cycle is all about not doing the same crap that hasn't worked, and so far whining about how I'm always slow in the morning has got me nowhere. 

So here's how that broke down. First of all, I got home and ate dinner at about 10pm Wednesday night, because I work in a running store, which I mainly do to fund my races and because I like to talk about....running. Then I set my alarm extra early (4:45am) for Thursday morning, so I could give up more sleep to get up, sit on the couch, and drink coffee and eat half a banana with almond butter when I wasn't hungry, to fuel my running. Sometimes I wonder about myself and my choice of hobbies.

But it was worth it, I ran the 10 miles at an average 8:43 pace. It was 62 degrees with 83% humidity when I started, which felt more like 90 degrees since last week I barely got to run in temperatures above freezing. The pace felt comfortably hard, and not at all like a death march until the last mile.

So far, the high and low point of my week have been the same moment - picking up my beloved Civic from the repair shop. Low because paying for it sucked. High because I got my car back, and more importantly, the bill, while expensive, was the best bill I've ever received. 



Yep, I paid good money for slave labor this week. 

What was the high and low point of your week so far? 

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Bring on the snark


Alternate title: "Everything I eat looks like sh!t, and you will want to mock me for it".

Second alternate title: WIAWT, Whole30 edition

In the blog world, WIAW stands for What I Ate Wednesday. Usually, just seeing someone's meals for the day is just unbelievably boring, especially since most bloggers who do it seem to be aiming to eat under 900 calories each day just to make the rest of us fatties feel extra fat. 

But I like it when normal people occasionally post what they eat. It really appeals to my inner creepy stalker. Kari, Kara, Emily and I did a WIAW over the summer, and I wanted to do another one while I was on Whole30. I work Wednesday nights, so it became What I Ate Tuesday.

Now, I've already warned them, I expect some good, creative mocking in the comments. If all you can come up with is something like "that looks like someone already ate that meal and vomited it up", please, don't even bother. You're better than that.

Since I'm horrible at food photography, I'm including some pics from the websites to show what things are actually supposed to look like.

5:15 am:  No food, but I did 7 miles of speedwork, just as an FYI.

7:20 am: Leave for work. I have to bring a massive amount of food with me to survive the day, and I also double fist travel mugs of coffee.

Breakfast/lunch/snack

The one thing I'm not really following in Whole30 is "mindful eating". They recommend you eat away from your desk, away from distractions, and really focus on your meal. Sounds nice, doesn't it? I don't know anyone with a job who has this as an option. 

7:45 am: Breakfast while reviewing my reading lesson plan, reading the Wizard of Oz to prepare for my read aloud, and checking my email.


Two prosciutto wrapped mini fritatta muffins, a banana with cashew butter, and copious amounts of coffee. 

Delicious, I swear. Actually that could be another alternate title.
 What they are supposed to look like:
image
source
12:25pm: Lunch.



Cauliflower "rice" (left) flavored with fresh lime juice and basil, and a salmon cake (right) with spicy mustard. The salmon cakes were a hot mess because they were supposed to use eggs to  bind the salmon/onions/spices together, but I ran out because I now eat like 7 eggs a day. The salmon cakes were more like random chunks of cooked salmon in a tupperwear, but they still tasted good.

12:38 pm: I was still kind of hungry and was going to have a hard boiled egg, but then I realized I had to leave to pick up my class in 4 minutes, so I just sipped this tea on my way down the hall. So not an intuitive eater.


4:30 pm: Grad class. I snacked on carrots, sugar snap peas dipped in tahini mixed with lemon juice and salt. Right before I left work I realized I barely had any tahini left, so I tried to use more spicy mustard, but it didn't really work. 


I know this snack can't be that weird, because right after I pulled it out my friend started whispering my name (this class is seriously old school) to point out she'd brought the exact same snack! (Well, carrots, snap peas and dip anyway.)

7:40pm: dinner - finally a meal I could eat while relaxing in my pjs, as nature intended!



Betty crocker thai style coconut chicken (leftover from last night, no cooking for the win!) and more cauliflower rice. I added salted mixed nuts and also ate some extra nuts while it was heating up because I was starving beyond belief.


Thai-Style Coconut Chicken
From the website (also with real rice)
8:00 I was still hungry after I inhaled my meal. I had a little more chicken and then a snack that looks so unappetizing, not even an instagram filter could help it. Half an avocado and a hard boiled egg.

#nofilter
8:15pm: I finished up the night with some chocolate mint tea, a leopard print snuggie, and Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones (which I actually watched during dinner, HUGE mistake). 


So there you have it, a day in the life of eating on Whole30. Bring it on, I can take it.