Thursday, July 31, 2014

Monthly miles and granola.

I ran 154.5 miles in the month of July... yippee!
This afternoon I made GRANOLA. I'm very picky about homemade granola because I often feel that it's too bland or doesn't have enough crunch. 

I have experimented with a few recipes and ultimately ended up making my own with ideas from several different ones. Here's what I used :

-2 cups rolled oats
-1 packet of Quaker cinnamon instant oatmeal
-1/2 cup of white quinoa
-1 cup of muesli (with dried apple and mixed raisins)
-1 cup of slivered almonds
-About 1 cup of finely shredded coconut
-1 handful (or more) of dried cranberries
-1 cup of coarsely chopped apricots
-1/3 cup honey
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-2 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 325*F and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix all of the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, until just combined. If you feel the mixture needs to be stickier or sweeter, feel free to add more honey! I'm not big into measuring cups or spoons and am much more of a "fistfuls of everything" type of girl. Spread the mixture out evenly on the cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. Be sure to stir it every 5-10 minutes so it doesn't get too well-done on one side!

Then, enjoy! (But don't burn your tongue like I did!)



Wednesday, July 30, 2014

This and That.

Not much happening around here - been working more than usual as our program wraps up for the summer. I needed to go on a date with myself this morning, so I treated myself to early-morning trail running. The trails I run on are about 25-30 minutes away and I don't go out there too often because gas is $$$, and I can just run here. After Sunday's run, I felt like I needed the mushy-gushiness of the just-rained-on trails instead of tough sidewalks and tarmac. My sore legs definitely appreciate this. 

One of my favorite parts of running on the trails is that these are the same trails that I grew up hiking on frequently with my family. Hiking out there was one of our favorite - and most frequented - family activities. We used to bring our dog out there and he would swim, play fetch, and enjoy the nature to his heart's content. So did we. Once he was gone (and as we were older and busier) it became a much less frequent family past-time of ours. Heading out there for runs reminds me of happy family trips into the woods, the salamanders we caught, the river we waded in, and the "mountain" (it was really a hill) that we tried to climb each time. I don't think I would be as comfortable running on trails like this alone if I didn't feel like I knew them by heart already. 

When I got out of the car, the first thing I saw on the path was this! The Burning River 100-Miler is coming up this weekend. 

Remember when Alex and I drove around all day to meet his cousin at different points of the BR100? That was a lot of fun - but I don't think I could (or would) ever do a race of that magnitude on my own. Support crew, yes, but running for 24+ hours straight just isn't my thing!

Got some pics in my favorite spots.

Favorite cool tree.
Looks like Jurassic Park.
I just think thistles are so CUTE! Is it possible for a thorny flower to be cute? I just think they are.
When I got home all I wanted was a cold, thick smoothie. I blended up some of Trader Joe's mixed frozen fruits and chopped up some fresh nectarine to put on top. Lots of granola and a little bit of fresh ground PB went on top too. YUM.
Heading off to finish up about 987458 loads of laundry! Hope you're having a great day :)

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Running Talk Down from 07/21 to 07/27

Monday : 20-mile bike ride with my dad
Tuesday : 7 miles easy, GSM, abs
Wednesday : 4 easy miles, GSM, 8-minute abs
Thursday : 1 mile w/u, 1.5 @ half-marathon pace X 4, 2 miles cool down, GSM and 8-minute abs
Friday : Off
Saturday : 5 easy miles, 8-minute abs
Sunday : 13.1 miles @ 7:56 pace  (total time : 1:43:57) :)

Weekly Total : 38 miles

Thursday's speed work went well - after a week+ of only easy-paced running. I was happy with how it went and wanted to keep my body happy as well. I iced my muscles when I got home, stretched carefully, and then later in the day took an epsom salt bath. I think these do a great job of really unknotting and relaxing my muscles. (I have to say, they're awfully relaxing even if you don't have a work out to recover from.) After the bath I put on my tightest, most compressing compression socks and put my feet up. (General strength and motility and some more stretching happened later in the evening.) I think that self-care like this has really been helping...as excited as I am to get back to school I have to wonder if my joints and muscles will take a toll when I'm more crunched on time!

I did not prepare for Sunday's long run like I should have. I guess you can't always do that, but up until now I've taken it pretty easy before long runs! I spend Saturday hydrating, make sure I make good food choices that will help me the next day, and generally keep my feet up. Yesterday, I stayed in my sweaty running clothes pretty much all day, and stayed on my feet for much of the day as well! First I was jam-making, and then we had our annual Block Party and I stood up talking to people for about 2 hours. After the Block Party, I stood in the kitchen while I talked to my mom and dad about school-related stuff for about an hour. Now, ordinarily, this shouldn't be much of an issue, but since I typically spend Saturday sitting down reading, or watching movies, or doing work at my desk, this was a bit of a change of pace. I guess it's time for me to get used to not tailoring my schedule completely around running - I definitely won't be able to do that in 4 weeks when schools starts!

As you can see, despite feeling fatigued, tired, and somewhat dehydrated, I had a very good run today. I can't believe I ran that fast for a half-marathon! I shaved FIFTEEN minutes off of my very first half-marathon and 8 minutes off of my half-marathon PR in October.

I used the first mile as a warm-up, then did strides, and then stopped for about 5-10 minutes to stretch everything out (this is my secret during hard workouts...STRETCH before the actual workout starts. I think that this has really helped me). Then I hit the road! The weather wasn't too hot, but it was VERY muggy and I was sweaty almost as soon as I walked out the door this morning. Even still, the run felt pretty manageable/not too hard until about mile 8. At mile 7 my dad met me with Gatorade and water - bless his heart.  I hope he's willing to do this for the next 3-4 long runs before I head off to school :)

Miles 8 and 9 felt rough but I felt strong towards the end. My mantra throughout this run was "I am strong. I am fit. I can do hard things." Whenever I doubted myself, I thought about that phrase! Mental strength > physical strength.

This run was definitely the confidence boost I needed at this stage of my training. I'm really pleased with how this went today :) When I got home I drank a ton of water and Gatorade, stretched, and took an ice bath. Lots of resting and an epsom salt bath scheduled for this afternoon :)

Saturday, July 26, 2014

It's a blueberry jam makin' kinda day.

Today, we did something I've been wanting to do forever. We made ourselves some proper jam out of the fresh blueberries I picked on Wednesday. 

In June 2004, we made jam with our neighbor (she led the reins on that project at the time). If it hadn't been for that experience I probably wouldn't have ever known that it's simple and easy to make your own jam! Jam-making was the primary reason I wanted to go pick mass quantities of blueberries. 

I got my mom in on this because I knew jam-making would a two-person gig. Over the past few days, we've read a few different articles on jam-making, the sterilization of the jars, and the proper sugar quantities to use. 

We were lucky, the only thing we needed to buy was pectin, since we had a bunch of jars leftover from our prior jam-making extravaganza (a decade ago). 

So here's a quick one-two on the old jam-brewing business!

The first thing we did was go to the store and buy the pectin. This is likely going to be found in the jars and canning section of your grocery store. I did not know such a section existed, and spent about 10 minutes staring at the Jell-O section before finally asking. Sure enough, there's a whole section in your grocery store dedicated to making your own preserves! If you need jars and/or lids, buy them here as well.

We ended up primarily referring to the recipe and instructions inside the box of pectin. These were the most helpful to us.

The first thing you've got to do is mash up your berries as well as you can! We used about two cups (mashed).


Next, pour those mashed berries in a pot on medium-high heat. Pour your pectin in immediately. This is what pectin looks like (iced coffee=optional).




Keep stirring until it begins to boil, and then immediately dump in your sugar. You will need 1 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of mashed berries that you have. So, since we had 2 cups mashed berries, we added 2 cups of sugar.

Allow to boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat immediately.

Your jars and lids should be ready and sterilized. (To sterilize, keep them in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove with kitchen tongs.)
Carefully ladle your blueberry mixture into the sterilized jars. If you get some of the mixture on the edges or sides of the jars, wipe it up with a damp paper towel. The jars should be filled pretty much to the top with a smidgen of extra room (this will allow the lids to be sucked on, which allows the jam to be preserved).
Then, using tongs, place the jars in your big pot of boiling hot water (left over from when you sterilized the jars). Pour several cups of cold water over top of the jars. Turn the heat up and allow them to boil for 10 minutes.
Carefully remove your jars after 10 minutes. Now, as they cool, wait to see if the lid sucks onto the jar. It will likely make a vacuum-like sound. If you can no longer press down on the clicky top of the of the jar, then it has properly sucked on. This means you can keep the jam in the cupboard, rather than in the fridge, and it has a much longer shelf-life! Of course, once you open it, keep it refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Favorite Things Friday returns!

It's been awhile since I've done one of these :) 

1. Blueberry banana and chocolate chip banana breads !
2. New cycling kit! Wahoo, 50 miles here I come.
3. When my bff sent me this picture because this sweatshirt made her think of me :)
4. Getting a thank you note from my boss for working hard :)

5. Watching this in my PJs (I really need to stop being so wild on the weekends).
Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Blueberry picking!

Today I did my run early and we headed out to go BLUEBERRY PICKING! This was a really fun activity, which I've been wanting to do for quite awhile now!

We picked 5.5 pints... about 11 cups!

Now I have to decide exactly what I want to do with all of these! I'll probably wash and refrigerate them and get to work this weekend... and I'm already plotting lots of raspberry picking in a few weeks as well!

P.S. This is my 300th blog post...can't believe it!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Foods you should be eating and an excavation of my room.

Be sure to check out this article if you are a Trader Joe's fan! I've tried most of these products - and yes, they are as amazing as this funny article claims!

But don't eat their stone fruits (peaches, papaya, mango, etc) for awhile because there has been a recall on those fruits from Costco, Walmart, and Trader Joe's!

And just one more article... it's called 10 Essential Foods for Runners but it should be called "10 Essential Foods for People" because these are really great foods for everyone to have! I eat a good deal of these but my favorite is cherries... I especially like their description for that one :)

Today I didn't have much going on with work so I slept in until 7:30 (I know, I'm a wild child), got up and worked on some email, and then headed out for my easy 7-mile run. Felt pretty tired during the whole thing - I did a tough 20-mile bike ride with my dad last night! And I'm still recovery from my 12-miler two days ago. I feel pretty good (other than just tired) and am glad that I decided to be all kumbaya about my training schedule last week. I'm about ready for my mileage cutdown week - which will be in a week or two.

It was, however, really hot. At one point, I saw a sprinkler across an intersection from me...sort of like a beacon of hope glowing over the heat-wave-ridden road. The 0.2 mile journey over to the sprinkler felt like it took years, and once I got there I shamelessly stood in it... totally uncaring to whether the homeowners (or passing cars) were watching/thinking I was crazy. I made my way onwards after about 2 minutes of sprinkler glory.

Came home and made a scramble with eggwhites and veggies

The rest of the day was spent doing a complete excavation of my room and my stuff. When I returned from Europe, I felt really overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have. Not only is European culture more minimalistic then ours, but I also had just been used to living out of a suitcase. So, I've decided I need to really pair down the "memorabilia" that I've allowed to accumulate. Eventually - and sooner rather than later - I know that I'll be moving into a permanent residence of my own, and I don't want to a) bring it all with me or b) weigh my parents down with all of my, well, crap. I'm talking brochures that are meaningless to me, random movie theatre stubs, rapid tickets (why, oh why do I have these?), old magazine articles, hundreds of race bibs (running and rowing) and journals that have no value to me. So... that's what I'm working on today. It takes a long time, because value or no, each item takes a long time to part with.

Found these in my winter coat pocket (this is actually something I want to keep for scrapbooking!)

Starting to read this amazing book. I just watched the movie for the second time last week and finally decided it was time to get reading!
It's already so good!

Today ended up being the hottest it's been in awhile so the sister and I had no choice but to go get ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. 

Half-baked :)
Stay cool!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Best jam ever & Running Talk Down.

In the summertime, my mom signs us up to get locally grown produce. We go pick it up once a week and get lots of yummy things, like broccoli, spinach, rhubarb, strawberries, and other similar things. This week, we signed up to get fresh eggs and blackberry jam. Ever since, Europe, I've been semi-obsessed with jam. 

Best meal ever.

This fresh blackberry jam is the most delicious jam I've tasted!

Running Talk Down From 07/14 to 07/20

This week in the running world...

Monday : Off
Tuesday : Easy 7.3 miles, GSM
Wednesday : Easy 7 miles, 8-minute abs, GSM
Thursday : GSM, 8-minute abs, 15.25-mile bike ride, water skiing (that's a workout, right? ;)
Friday : Easy 6 miles, GSM
Saturday : Easy 4.5 miles, GSM, 8-minute abs
Sunday : 12.2 miles, GSM

Weekly total : 37

As I mentioned earlier in the week, this was the first week that I had to make alterations to my running schedule. I was having some IT-band inflammation so I skipped the speed work and altered my mileage a tiny bit to let it rest. This was all precautionary because I really don't want to be injured. I think the fact of the matter is that during marathon training, stuff is going to hurt. Marathon training is clearly a very difficult thing to put your body through - especially, I think, for the first time. There will be persistent aches and pains. The trick is to know how to respond to those aches and pains and how to listen to your body. I got lots of time with my feet up, did lots of precautionary icing, took an epsom salt bath, and STRETCHED! I stretched at least twice a day and foam rolled quite a bit to help my IT-band loosen back up. Foam rolling my glutes helped in particular - I think the hill climbs during my bike ride with my dad worked some new muscles there.

My 12-miler today felt pretty good. I definitely should've gotten out even earlier to beat the heat at the end but it wasn't too bad. I stopped 1 mile in and stretched and did some GSM exercises. This was a good idea. I did the final 3 miles at marathon pace or faster. Didn't feel the IT-band at all.

So, as you could see in the picture, I wore my new shoes, which really, really seemed to help all parts of my body feel better. Really glad I got those out today, finally! I had been delaying it because I wanted to maximize the miles on my old shoes... these are a big investment for me!

I am now 4 weeks into my marathon training plan and have 12 weeks to go... Only 3 months guys!  As in... I'm running a marathon in 3 months???

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Socks!

After traveling lots of places for 4 months, I will never again underestimate the beauty of grass. We are lucky to have lots of green where I live!

Got 2 new pairs of running socks way on sale in the hopes of eliminating some painful blisters on the tips of my toes!


The bottom is the best :)

Recently I've been enjoying spinach, broccoli, and an egg.

Not very photogenic but yummy.

Trader Joe's raspberry macaron and coffee :)

Love this shirt !
Gotta head out to run!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Bananas + a special coffee treat.

When life gives you overripe bananas, it's time to make something out of them. 

Finally the perfect opportunity to make flourless banana oat muffins inspired by a recipe I found from Running With Spoons. 

It's surprisingly simple to make flourless muffins - all you need is some thick Greek yogurt and some oats! I definitely hope to make variations of this with berries and other fillings. 

I added in peanut butter and extra chocolate chips, plus walnuts for my dad.
I loved this recipe because you could make the whole recipe in a blender! Really cut down on dish-washing. 

Perfect gooeyness :

{Yesterday was a cross-training day. A 15.25-mile bike ride with my dad and a couple hours of waterskiing ;) }

This morning I needed to mix things up a little bit. I tried out the minty chocolate coffee I gave my mom from my first trip to Paris
It was delicious!
Today I'm going to actually run (I think). Hoping the IT-band has done well with some rest and lots of icing over the past two days!