February Review

A pretty light month of running, and none of the serious marathon training I expected to do this month, but of course taking care of myself is more important!  I've eased my way back into consistent running as slowly as I could, and I'm now about 2 weeks pain-free and ready to try a 10 mile run this weekend.  Still taking training one day at a time though.  

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Week 1 : 2/1 - 2/4 : run 4.6 miles, bike 10 miles
I ran in an icy crunchy winter wonderland on the 2nd, which was also a snow day for me!  I was on a 2 hr delay when I headed out for the run.  When I came back I decided to scrape the very thick layer of ice and snow off my car before showering, and halfway through the job I got the snow day call. 

Week 2 : 2/5 - 2/11 : run 22 miles, bike 10.6 miles
I started out the week with a brand new pair of orthotics!  I went for a run as soon as I got home from the appointment.  The run felt pretty good, but the very next day my foot hurt worse than it had in awhile, so that was rather worrying.  It didn't stop me from trying them out in a different pair of shoes the next day though.  I meant to take it easy all week as I knew the orthotics probably wouldn't be a magic instant cure, but somehow ended up sprinting a tough uphill on Tuesday and flying through a 5.5 run at sub 7:30 pace on Friday. 

Week 3 : 2/12 - 2/18 : run 26.3 miles
On the 13th I decided that my foot was strong enough to try a 6 miler.  It felt so good to do more than 4-5 miles!  By then I could tell that my trail Hokas were the best pair of shoes I had for my feet, and no longer trusted my Brooks, so I bought a pair of Hoka Cliftons.  I got to try them out in gorgeous 65 degree weather on the 15th.  Two days later I was running around Lewisburg in a mix of snow and rain. 

Week 4 : 2/19 - 2/25 : run 28.5 miles
This week was gloriously warm, and I loved getting to run in summer running attire!  I tried out an 8 mile run on Tuesday, had a really good 5 mile pick-up run ending below 7:00 pace on Friday, and did a good hill run on Saturday.  Breathing was getting a bit rough by the end of the week...I'm blaming spring allergies. 

Week 5 : 2/26 - 2/28 : run 16.8 miles
Not quite so warm this week, but at least it's not hat and gloves weather again.  Yesterday the guys said we were going to do 3 miles at 6:45 pace.  I wasn't sure how that would go for me, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  The first mile was 6:25.  The second mile was 6:40, and I was struggling hard, but I managed to pull a 6:36 for the third mile.  (1.5 slight downhill, 1.5 slight uphill)  It's always a win if I can prevent the uphill mile from being the slowest!

Summer in February, what's not to love?

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Year to date:

total run miles : 215

total bike miles : 76

Workout Wednesday : Circuit Training

I've been holding my weekly class in my classroom since November because the gym was occupied by either basketball practice or cheer-leading practice every day. Now that the basketball season is over, the gym is once again available, so I took advantage of all the space and added a bunch of cardio exercises to the line-up for this week's workout!

There were 3 of us working out, and we all agreed that we liked the workout better with the added cardio options, so it looks like our weekly workouts will start to focus slightly less on strength and slightly more on cardio.  I'll keep some strength exercises each week of course, but I'm looking forward to the change.  I was definitely more out of breath and more sweaty today!

1 Leg Arm Curl, Press, & Dip : Stand on one leg, with a weight in each hand.  When on your right leg, hold your left hand down with the weight, while your right arm does a bicep curl, to overhead press, to tricep extension. Switch leg/arm halfway through. 

Squat Choice : I did single leg squats, the others did weighted 2 leg squats.

1 Arm Plank Reach : Plank position on your hands, extend one arm out in front of you, then reach it back to touch the opposite toe.  Alternate extension & touch.  Switch arms halfway through. 

Skip : Skip back and forth across the gym.  Go for speed, height, or both!  

Swimmer : Lie on stomach, raise opposite arm/leg pairs, hold for 1-3 seconds, alternate. 

Plank Side to Side Jump : Plank position on your hands.  Jump both feet up  behind one elbow, jump back to plank, jump both feet up behind the other elbow, back to plank.  Repeat.

Meal Prep Monday : 2/26/18

Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, & Cauliflower

The Chicken : B/S chicken thighs, sprinkled with garlic powder, oregano, basil, and sage.  Baked at 425 for 30-40 minutes. 

The Potatoes : 2 sweet potatoes and 3 yukon gold potatoes, mashed with 1 tbsp butter, some milk, and garlic powder.  I cooked the sweet potatoes in the microwave (cut the ends off first), 3:00 at a time until soft.  I chopped the yukons and boiled them until soft.  

The Veggies : 5 carrots and 2 packages of frozen cauliflower, sauteed & steamed with a bit of olive oil and garlic powder.  

Workout Wednesday : TRX atomic split pike

I was slacking on TRX along with exercise in general while I was dealing with tendonitis in my foot, but last week I kicked my butt into gear and got back to TRX.  While I was at it, I decided to try out a new move : the atomic split pike. 

Pikes have always been pretty hard on my back, but as I've been doing TRX semi-consistently for awhile now, they are finally starting to get a little bit easier.  Push-ups are also still a very weak exercise for me, so I was pretty proud of myself for pulling off these atomic pikes, plus the extra modification of the split!  You can see when I start fatiguing that I don't get my pike quite as high, and then I rally for a few and get that pike a bit higher again.

In other news, check out my new TRX space!  My gym membership expires this week, and I'm not going to renew it.  It was nice to be able to use the space in the gym occasionally, but too often my workouts there were accompanied by basketballs, volleyballs, or pickleballs flying at my head, so it just wasn't worth it.  It's hard to do TRX in my apartment because my doorways are all in corners which really limits my range of motion. This room at a friend's house is working out really well though!  It's so nice to have a door in the middle of the wall that I can use so that I have room to go side to side! 

Meal Prep : 2/19/18

White Bean & Chicken Mac n Cheese

Peas with Zucchini

The mac stuff : 2 B/S chicken breasts, poached and shredded .  1/2 pound of navy beans, simmered til soft. 1/2 lb elbow macaroni, cooked and drained.  2 carrots, grated. 

The mac sauce : 2 tbsp butter, 2 oz cream cheese, 1+ c milk, 1/4 c flour, some garlic powder, 1 cup chopped swiss cheese, 1 cup chopped monterey cheese. Melt all ingredients together in a small saucepan. 

Building the mac : Layer the shredded chicken on the bottom of a glass dish.  Mix the beans, macaroni, carrots, and cheese sauce together, and then pour the mixture over the chicken.  Add a few slices of cheese on top.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 

The veggies : 1/4 onion, chopped and sauteed in olive oil.  2 large zucchini, chopped.  2 bags of frozen peas.  Add the zucchini to the pan when the onions are translucent, cook for a minute or two, then add the frozen peas, cover the pan, and cook til done. 

Makes 8 lunches. 

Thursday Thoughts : marathon training...or not.

My thoughts towards marathon training have been all over the map lately.  There's the part of me that says my body clearly does not want to handle the level of training that my mind says I can handle.  There's also the part of me that says I am not a quitter and I'm not going to let anything get in my way. 

Maybe I keep having setbacks because my goals are beyond what my body is capable of.  Maybe I keep having setbacks because I am just too enthusiastic about training and I keep upping my mileage/pace too quickly.  Maybe I keep having setbacks just because life happens and luck has not been on my side.  It's probably a combination of all 3 scenarios...

Now that I've lost a full month of marathon training, I was seriously considering deferring my Pittsburgh Marathon entry for a year.  Not because I think it is impossible for me to be ready for the race in May, but more just to take the self-induced pressure off myself for awhile.  And also because I will be chaperoning a week-long field trip to Tybee Island/Savannah with my middle school students the week before the marathon and so I will already be exhausted when I hit the starting line.  The timing of this field trip + marathon will not be kind to me.  BUT, it turns out the Pittsburgh Marathon does not give you the option to defer entry for a year, like some races do.  So, I'm going to run the race this year, but am currently working on convincing myself not to care about my finish time, but just to run the race for love of the run. 

I know I still have plenty of time to prepare for the race and maybe I will magically manage to get adequate sleep on the field trip and arrive in Pittsburgh well-rested and ready to crush the race, but realistically that is unlikely. 

After several weeks of just a few 3-4 mile runs per week, I have successfully run two 6 mile runs so far this week, and my foot seems to be doing ok.  I have new orthotics to help take pressure off my tendonitis, and today I test-ran a new pair of Hokas that are nice and stiff to help reduce the bending in my foot as I run, which should also help.  It's still too early to go back to planning long runs, but I'm starting to feel more optimistic about being able to resume training rather than needing to take a month completely off. 

Today, I'm grateful for a fabulous test-run in my new Clifton 4s, with a last mile fast-finish of 6:56.

I'm also grateful for shorts weather twice in one week, in February.

And, of course, I'm grateful for my running buddies!

Meal Prep Monday : 2/12/18

Garlic-crusted pork tenderloin, 

cheesy mashed potatoes and a 

green bean mix. 

The pork : A 1.5 lb pork tenderloin, sprinkled with a generous amount of garlic powder, and baked for 1 hour at 400 degrees.  

The potatoes : 5 small-medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft.  Mash with 2 oz cream cheese, some milk, a dash of salt, a generous shake of garlic powder, and a small handful of shredded cheese (I used monterey).  

The green beans : Chop 1/3 of an onion and saute with 3 pieces of chopped bacon.  Add two 12 oz packages of frozen french cut green beans when the onions and bacon have reached the desired crispiness.  Cover and steam, stirring occasionally.  Chop 10 mushrooms, add them and a large handful of spinach when the beans are done.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted.  

For each meal, I put in a large spoonful of mashed potatoes, filled half of the container with veggies, and added 2 slices of pork. I made 4 lunches because that is all the lunch containers I had at the moment, but had plenty of food left to portion out later in the week. I only needed 4 lunches anyway, because I have some leftover pasta & meatballs from last week. 

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If you aren't a super-active person or are watching your weight, you can leave out the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and bacon.  This meal will still be delicious without them!

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I had this meal prepared Friday night, and then Saturday evening I went to church and discovered that Lent starts this week, which means no meat on Wednesday or Friday.  So I got back in the kitchen on Sunday night and made some bacon-less green beans and some black bean salmon burgers.

Salmon burgers : 1 small can boneless/skinless salmon, 1/3 cup (ish) of black beans, bread crumbs, garlic powder, 1 egg.  I mashed up the beans, beat the egg, and mixed everything together.  I kept adding breadcrumbs until the mixture didn't seem to wet anymore.  I shaped the mixture into 4 burgers, then I put a little bit of olive oil in a pan and cooked them for 3-5 minutes on each side.  

Workout Wednesday : Circuit Training

This was the 15th circuit workout that I designed for my workout group at school.  In the 16 weeks I've been doing the class, I've only repeated a previous workout once, and that was because we were coming back from vacation and it seemed like a good time to revisit the beginning!  Each week when I design the workout, I do my best to find a new exercise to add, while also creating a good mix of previous exercises.  Other than starting with jumping jacks and ending with plank, I try not to repeat any exercises too many weeks in a row.  Gotta keep it interesting!

Each exercise was 50 seconds, except for the Side Plank which was 1:00, to allow 30 seconds on each side. The single-leg exercises were done 25 seconds on each leg (calf raises, lunge).

This week I had two new exercises and one modified exercise.  The new exercises were the hammer curls and the side crunches, and the modified exercise was the lunge with balance : I added the weight. 

Step backwards into the lunge, then drive back leg forward and up while raising the weight. Hold for a few seconds before stepping back into the lunge. 

Meal Prep Monday : 2/5/18

Pasta, Meatballs, & Veggies!

Pasta & Meatballs has always been one of my favorite meals!  I remember it being my birthday meal of choice quite a few times when I was younger. I don't make meatballs too often anymore because they do take quite a bit of time to cook, but every now and then I start craving them and decide it's worth the time. 

I'm sharing with a friend this week, so I made 10 lunches for the workweek. 

Light amount of sauce for me, extra sauce for him.  

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The pasta : 1 lb penne rigate, cooked, and covered in sauce from the meatballs. 

The meatballs : 1 lb 93/7 and 1 lb 90/10 ground beef, mixed with 2 eggs, 2 tbsp bread crumbs, garlic powder, 1 tbsp mustard, some basil and oregano.  Shaped into 33 balls. Cooked in 48 oz of Prego Hearty Mushroom tomato sauce for about 1.5 hrs.

The veggies : 3 large crowns of broccoli and 5 small carrots.  Chopped into bite-sized pieces and cooked in a skillet with some olive oil and garlic powder. 

There was enough pasta left for a small meal, and 2 meatballs.  (1 was eaten when I checked to see if they were done...)

Friday Five : Winter Running Edition

Since I had a snow day today, this seems like a good time to share my winter-running go-tos!  The day started out with a 2 hr delay, but I went to bed early last night and was wide awake around 5:30, so sleeping in was not going to happen.  I got up and had breakfast, gave it some time to settle, and then headed out the door for a run.  I was really glad we got the delay (which I had been expecting, due to the snow and ice accumulation forecasted for last night) because without the delay, I wouldn't have had time for exercise today!  I finished my run and then shoveled off my sidewalk and began clearing the 2 inches of snow and thick ice off of my car...and then got the snow day message.  I wanted to go run some more miles, but I'm trying really hard not to make my tendonitis any worse right now, so I'm limiting myself to 4-5 miles every other day until I get new orthotics on Monday.  So no extra snow-day miles, but at least I didn't have to rush through my shower to get to work on time!  And I had time this morning to get my taxes done, which was another bonus to a day off!

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20 degrees, feels like 10. 

Not a whole lot of snow, but there was a thick crunchy layer of ice under what snow there was.  Most of the trees were covered with a layer of snow that looked really pretty, especially with the morning sun shining on them. 

Here are 5 things that I am currently 

finding indispensable 

for cold weather running.  

1) Hat with a hole for my ponytail, with an earband on top. 

I find that most hats don't quite cover my ears the whole way, unless they also are so big that they cover my eyes.  So I love a hat that keeps the warmth in my head, but is also thin enough to comfortably layer an earband over which takes care of my ears.  This hat from Brooks has the added bonus of a hole for my ponytail to stick through, which is pretty awesome. 

2) Fleece-lined shirt with a neck. 

I LOVE my fleece-lined shirts.  I got this one from Target many years ago, and it is still probably my favorite!  I like the mock-neck, which comes up high enough to overlap with my buff and not let any heat escape my core.  It's only downside is that it doesn't have thumb-holes, but the sleeves are nice and long.  My other fleece-lined shirts are from Under Armour (thank you, Black Friday online sales) and have the thumb holes, but not the mock-neck.  The fleece lining keeps me extra warm, and I've also found that this shirt can block some wind, which is an added bonus!  

3) Thick wool socks. 

My toes can get pretty cold on these frigid runs!  I find a pair of normal thin running socks fits nicely under these wool socks, and the double socks keep my feet nice and toasty!  This pair of socks was a gift from a girl I used to ride with West Virginia, and at the time I had no idea I would end up finding them so useful!  

4) Ski mittens. 

These mittens were a life-saver a few years ago when we had a really frigid winter in WV.  I didn't dress properly for an April race one year, and ended up losing circulation from the elbow down for the first few miles.  My hands were weird and tingly for several months afterwards, and though  they eventually felt normal again, I've had trouble keeping circulation in them during cold runs ever since.  When we had a winter in which sub-20 degrees was the norm, and single digits were frequent, I found I couldn't run much more than 2 miles before my hands hurt so bad I had to go home.  I tried many different pairs of gloves, and none of them kept my hands warm enough.  I found these mittens on Amazon for $19 and they turned out awesome!  They keep my hands toasty warm no matter how cold it is (actually, they keep my hands sweaty no matter how cold it is, but sweaty is far preferable to frozen!), and they even have little zipper pockets that can fit my house key.  

5) Fleece-lined Buff. 

Fleece-lined everything is awesome.  I also have non-fleece lined Buffs which are fine when it's not quite so cold out, but for the frigid temps I am in love with this thick fleecy Buff.  It is thick enough that so far it doesn't freeze when it gets a little wet from my breath, like my thinner ones do.  (When they freeze, they start to rub my face and that hurts!)  

All bundled up for my run this morning!

 This windbreaker from OneMoreMile is also very useful
as an outer layer to hold in heat and block the wind.