Two Posts in one day?! Who am I? Someone who has way too much time, 17.5 hours to be exact, on their hands. I already
-made lunch
-cleaned the kitchen
-made a monthly budget
-went to yoga
-went to Masters
-read
And now I am waiting for my whole-wheat pear cake to pop out of the oven so I can eat some dinner/desesrt before work/working-out. It's okay to call me SuperWoman. I won't be offended.
Speaking of baked goods, I have been making a lot of them lately now that the dietician has given me the okay/nudge ("you are a very healthy eater..... you know you can eat sweets, right?" <--- Best. Advice. Of. My. Life.) to splurge again. I am still doing mostly low-sugar recipes, but now that gluten is no longer the enemy, I have made best friends again with my whole wheat products. Six months without them was far too long.
A redhead, her trail shoes, and a lot of peanut butter.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Full-Body Ouch
Ah, the residual soreness of running a race. I didn't expect to be too sore from Saturday and Sunday's efforts, but then I didn't take a day off of running and swam my butt off yesterday and today, so my body was not quite as limber in yoga this morning as it usually is. This resulted in some DEEP stretching going on during the class, which is good for my body, but bad for my energy level, as I am now pooped beyond beliefe. Good thing I still have to make lunch, clean the kitchen, lift and do the elliptical, and work! (and why am I blogging when I could be doing all those things!?!?)
I actuallymight have definitely fell asleep during the ending portion of yoga, the "savastana" or however it is spelled, making it the second week in a row I have done this. I wonder if this means I need more than 6 hours of sleep per night...
I actually
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Bitch is Back
And by bitch, I mean my bottomless appetite. Half-marathon+still running everyday= me eating like half of our food in 2 days. Good thing I do the grocery shopping in these here parts!
Monday, October 17, 2011
2 Days of Awesome
A PR. On what is in most local runners' minds one of the harder road half-marathons. HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN?!
Honestly, I have no idea how I pulled this one off. I didn't taper, didn't carboload, didn't do any weeks over 35 miles, hardly did any speedwork, and only had 2 long runs of any consequence. Still, my city knows how to pump a girl up, and with all those people cheering on every street and at every water stop, there was no way I was going to slow down my pace. I started off easy, deciding not to look at my watch until the 1st mile marker, and when I saw a pace that would, if held until the end, take me to a new PR, I thought "Hey, let's see how long I can hold on to this one without feeling like poop!"
When I got to Mile 4, a thought occurred to me: Holy. Macaroni. Is this race hilly. I train on hills, but a lack of carbohydrate stores combined with a lack of sleep and a lack of taper had my legs going "Woman, slow down!" There was no chance of me dropping off my pace, though, so I did what any runner in my situation would do: Turn up the explicit rap music, swig some Perpetuem, and keep on keepin' on. After all, this was my favorite race of the year, and no way in heck was I coming out of it with anything over a 1:45 (Hi, I'm Emily. I am extremely competitive and if I tell you that I am going to just "run by feel" and take a race "easy," it is a blatant, absolute pile of bologna).
What I love about half-marathons is that, in my opinion, once you get to mile 8, the race really does fly by, and on Saturday I knew if I could make it to mile 8 on pace, I would be able to sustain enough to get me across the finish in a respectable (for me) time. Mile 8 turned out to be windier than Chicago in January, with gusts so big I was basically being thrown from one side of the path to the other, but I knew there were free gummy bears and a dancing tiger on an old, 1980's wagon ahead, so I told myself to suck it the eff up and get the lead out.
Sure enough, the tiger was there at mile 10, but as always, my stomach was saying no no no to free gummy bears, so instead I lived vicariously through the crazies in front of me that were shoving those things in their mouths like it was the first morsel of food they'd seen in years. I passed my old coach at mile 10 (personal victory, since the woman is actually a superhero), and prepared myself for the last bitch of a hill at mile 11. The wind was so bad at this point that people were literally hunched over trying to block it, and I started to feel really bad for the taller runners who were waving like planks in the wind.
Thankfully after that last hill it's pretty much a straight downward slant to the finish, so I kicked it into high gear once I hit mile 12. Unfortunately, the wind was being a major biotch and was blowing me all over the place as I began my finishing kick, but I dealt. Less enjoyable was that feeling, a first-time for me, of ohmygosh- I will blow chucks- queasiness that happened about 200 yards out. I tried to remind myself that was just my body pushing it to the limit, and thankfully I passed through the finishing chute in 1:44:33, with my breakfast still intact.
That race reaffirmed my love for 13.1's, and helped me set some BIG TIME goals for the next two halves I have coming up in November. Can you say sub 1:40?
Honestly, I have no idea how I pulled this one off. I didn't taper, didn't carboload, didn't do any weeks over 35 miles, hardly did any speedwork, and only had 2 long runs of any consequence. Still, my city knows how to pump a girl up, and with all those people cheering on every street and at every water stop, there was no way I was going to slow down my pace. I started off easy, deciding not to look at my watch until the 1st mile marker, and when I saw a pace that would, if held until the end, take me to a new PR, I thought "Hey, let's see how long I can hold on to this one without feeling like poop!"
When I got to Mile 4, a thought occurred to me: Holy. Macaroni. Is this race hilly. I train on hills, but a lack of carbohydrate stores combined with a lack of sleep and a lack of taper had my legs going "Woman, slow down!" There was no chance of me dropping off my pace, though, so I did what any runner in my situation would do: Turn up the explicit rap music, swig some Perpetuem, and keep on keepin' on. After all, this was my favorite race of the year, and no way in heck was I coming out of it with anything over a 1:45 (Hi, I'm Emily. I am extremely competitive and if I tell you that I am going to just "run by feel" and take a race "easy," it is a blatant, absolute pile of bologna).
What I love about half-marathons is that, in my opinion, once you get to mile 8, the race really does fly by, and on Saturday I knew if I could make it to mile 8 on pace, I would be able to sustain enough to get me across the finish in a respectable (for me) time. Mile 8 turned out to be windier than Chicago in January, with gusts so big I was basically being thrown from one side of the path to the other, but I knew there were free gummy bears and a dancing tiger on an old, 1980's wagon ahead, so I told myself to suck it the eff up and get the lead out.
Sure enough, the tiger was there at mile 10, but as always, my stomach was saying no no no to free gummy bears, so instead I lived vicariously through the crazies in front of me that were shoving those things in their mouths like it was the first morsel of food they'd seen in years. I passed my old coach at mile 10 (personal victory, since the woman is actually a superhero), and prepared myself for the last bitch of a hill at mile 11. The wind was so bad at this point that people were literally hunched over trying to block it, and I started to feel really bad for the taller runners who were waving like planks in the wind.
Thankfully after that last hill it's pretty much a straight downward slant to the finish, so I kicked it into high gear once I hit mile 12. Unfortunately, the wind was being a major biotch and was blowing me all over the place as I began my finishing kick, but I dealt. Less enjoyable was that feeling, a first-time for me, of ohmygosh- I will blow chucks- queasiness that happened about 200 yards out. I tried to remind myself that was just my body pushing it to the limit, and thankfully I passed through the finishing chute in 1:44:33, with my breakfast still intact.
That race reaffirmed my love for 13.1's, and helped me set some BIG TIME goals for the next two halves I have coming up in November. Can you say sub 1:40?
Friday, October 14, 2011
Doc Says
Nutrionist: You should be eating about 8 servings of carbs a day. And breakfast cereals are fine as long as they have less than 4g of sugar and lots of fiber. And duh you have have fries and pie sometimes.
^^^ Best. Appointment. EVER.
^^^ Best. Appointment. EVER.
Life Update
Good Ideas:
- Oats in a Jar. Peanut Butter in the AM makes my day.
- My favorite half-marathon tomorrow in my favorite city.
-Nutrionist appointment
-Sugar-cookie tea (um NO it is not too early for holiday flavored teas)
Bad Ideas:
-207 20lb. squats 2 days after my tri
-Not washing my sports bra from said tri for 4 days (who knew ocean water made stains?)
-not eating carbs. Sandwiches, please come back into my life.
- Oats in a Jar. Peanut Butter in the AM makes my day.
- My favorite half-marathon tomorrow in my favorite city.
-Nutrionist appointment
-Sugar-cookie tea (um NO it is not too early for holiday flavored teas)
Bad Ideas:
-207 20lb. squats 2 days after my tri
-Not washing my sports bra from said tri for 4 days (who knew ocean water made stains?)
-not eating carbs. Sandwiches, please come back into my life.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Absent Note
So for the last few weeks I have been checking up on blogs, but taking some time off from posting. I am trying to enjoy what is most likely the last of my free time for the next 4 years or so, so I've been working out, baking, reading, and storing up some good stuff to write on here. I will be back in action today or tomorrow, and from then on will be writing some shorter but more frequent posts (hopefully) on the daily.
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