Check out...

My new location :) www.babybluerunner.blogspot.com.

Long Run Video...

I made a little video of my 12-mile long run on Saturday... I'm working on a more substantial post but hopefully this holds you over for the present! :)

This is the first film that I've written, produced, directed, and starred in. It's a pretty big deal ;)

I do realize it's tiny and poor resolution... Still learning how to make movies!

First "Long Run."

Today I headed out for my first long run of the cycle - officially only 15 weeks until race day. That's hard to believe.

There's nothing terribly exciting about today's long run to report. The weirdest/most unusual thing was the weather. It was about 60 degrees and VERY windy/drizzly/gray for my entire run. This is pretty odd for southern Ohio when it's almost July.

It's been a long time though since I've ran up to 8 miles, and even longer since I've ran 8 outside, so my body was feeling it, especially the hills. My arms and back are sore from swimming yesterday - which I didn't expect. The first few miles of this run were slow and my calves were feeling cramped, but once I got going I fell into "race pace" towards the end - which was great. Prior to the run I had a small piece of toast with pb & banana - my regular pre-run fuel from last summer's training.

Race Across America came through my town yesterday for the most part, but there were still some stragglers coming through today and I saw them and their crews during my run. It was really motivating to see that and I cheered for them as we passed each other.

As I mentioned, I went swimming yesterday during lunch! I only had time to swim for about 25 minutes, but it felt really great. I just can't get over how slow I am. Sometimes I think about the time cut-offs for big triathlons - especially full and half Ironman triathlons (because those are my goals!) - and I am just not close enough at all. Luckily I have lots of time (years probably) before any of those types of events to improve, but it can be discouraging! 

All things pink.

After my run this morning I did something I never do and made pancakes (with mix that Alex gave me when he was getting rid of stuff during his move this summer) with fruit and homemade whipped cream. And maple syrup. And a scrambled egg on the side.

I need to work on my food pics.

Now I've got to do some stretching and study for the GRE before I head to work for the afternoon.

Have a wonderful weekend :) 

First 2 Runs of the Cycle!

On Monday I got in my first two training runs of this cycle. I went early in the morning to beat the heat and it felt great! Usually Mondays will be "off," but since this week is a little unconventional I did it on Monday to get it out of the way. The run was 5 miles with 5x20 seconds of strides (faster than marathon-pace, but not "all out" running).

Today  I got in an easy 5 miles - already the second run of the cycle! I am so excited to really work hard. I want to get stronger too, and keep doing yoga and plyometrics and my hip and core strengthening exercises.

I'm working on "8-angle pose..." I have a ways to go!

Over Father's Day weekend I had a little reunion with my friends from high school :) We were all on the rowing team together and we visited our old boathouse - it was so great to visit some of our old haunts!

I gave my dad some treats from Little Italy for Father's Day (I might've sneaked a bite, too...)

Time for me to do some studying (less than 1 week until the big day!), just wanted to say a quick hello!

I hope everyone's week is going well :)

Two things.

I feel like this is my last week of "freedom" before I get sucked into marathon training (next week, people!). So, if I don't feel like running, I don't. I've been doing a lot of yoga lately instead... Sometimes I get bored in the library and I start distracting myself with asanas since I'm the only one there. 

I usually do self-led yoga postures, but sometimes if I need some inspiration or something a little different, I resort to podcasts. This one and this one are my favorites from 3 Dog Yoga in Santa Rosa. If you have a background in yoga and have a basic knowledge of what certain postures are, I couldn't recommend these more! They are the best.

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I celebrated this past Saturday night by watching "A Lot Like Love" and making flourless chocolate cupcakes. I found this recipe and am now not only obsessed with these cupcakes but also with The Iron You. These cupcakes had everything I love; almond milk, chocolate, coconut :) And The Iron You loves all of those things plus running and yoga and racing triathlon. I will have to get lots more recipes from his blog!

Hope your week is going well :)

What am I doing besides running?

In terms of working out, there's a few other things I'm working on in addition to running.

Usually I workout twice a day - one ~40-minute run in the morning (building a base for marathon-training) and one small workout in the afternoon/evening. During this smaller workout I do my PT exercises, stretching, yoga, and strength-training.

I've talked about yoga before, which is working wonders on my strength, flexibility, and most importantly, my mind. I've also mentioned ab-workouts. However, I'm also trying to strengthen my arms and work on plyometrics. 

To work on my arms, I use hand weights. Typically I do 3 exercises, x10 reps each. I will explain as best I can:

• Extended raise: Hold weights in each hand, arms fully extended at waist. Raise arms straight up so they are a 90-degree angle with your body. Lower back down and repeat.
• Lateral raise: Arms are fully-extended, resting at hips. Raise arms up sideways so that they're parallel with the ground.
• "Push-up": Arms are resting at your shoulders with weights in hands, ready to push up. Push up straight and come back to rest at your shoulders. Repeat.

I also like to work on plyometric exercises when I can. I mostly do them because I think they're fun and different, but studies have shown that plyometrics can help train your body to run more efficiently, which seems like a great benefit. There are some great examples here and here.

My favorite:

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I went to a free injury screening yesterday morning to try to work out some of my nagging issues. I have been to the physical therapy center here many, many times of the past few years at school, and I have always been above impressed with my experiences there. 

I expressed my concerns to the physical therapist and he watched me walk and did some strength tests. He used to sell running shoes, so he checked those out and said that they seem to be a great fit for me, that I have a nice gait. I was happy to hear that I'm mostly fine, but he said that my left side is pretty weak in comparison with my right side, which is definitely a contributing factor to my repeated injuries over the years. This isn't the first time I've heard this but he gave me some specific instructions to fit in with my marathon training (starting in less than 2 weeks). 

The physical therapist said that I "definitely have a runner's frame" and that it might be a little extra hard for me to build up "big muscles" in my hips and glutes because of my frame. When combined with high mileage and longggg distances, I start to experience into problems in the form of injury. I thought this made sense but that it was also a little baffling - professional marathoners are built like me, or have even tinier frames! Meb himself is only ½ an inch taller than I am, and barely 10lbs heavier! So how do those athletes with tiny frames maintain strong enough muscles that they aren't getting injured?!! If anyone knows the answer to this question... please let me know.

These are the exercises that my PT suggested. I also do pistol squats (which are pretty tough!) and clam shells, though he said I can "up the ante" with these and may want to just forget about clam shells all together. All of my other exercises can be found in this video.

Though I run in the mornings, I find myself wanting to get outside again later in the evenings. After dinner, sometimes I ride my bike to the trails and go on a short walk and listen to music. I also like to stop to see how fast the corn is growing (exciting stuff, I know). Looks like I had a friend last night...

Have a great Thursday!

Great summer salad.

Do you ever find a recipe that you really like and then proceed to make it over and over again until you get completely sick of it?

That's what I'm doing with this summer salad. 

[Source]

I made this salad for my roommates a few times over the course of this past school year, and it's always been a big hit. When friends were coming into town over the weekend, I wanted to make something that would accommodate everyone's preferences and dietary restrictions (vegetarianism, dairy allergies, etc.). This ended up being the perfect solution, and I got to use some fresh, sweet corn that is available in vast quantities in my country town this summer. 

All you need is tomatoes, red onion, black beans, corn, an avocado, and seasonings.  I love this recipe because it has such basic, easy ingredients that I usually have on hand, and is very quick to prepare with little clean-up. I chop everything up first, and then toss the fresh veggies in a bowl before adding the rinsed black beans. I like to cook the corn in the microwave for 4 minutes and then shear it off the cob with a knife. Once you've got everything together just add olive oil, salt, and pepper to your preferences and there you go! Great for sharing or to get you through the week. I'm getting ready to make a new batch today!

Running Lately.

So what's up with my running lately???

I've been getting back into the groove after months off on-and-off injury. A couple of months ago, after reaching a point of pain during every run after only 20-30 minutes and then having to stop, I realized how ridiculous I was being.

I was putting down a lot of junk miles. I was suffering a lot of pain and risking big-time injury for a few measly runs every week while I could just put on the brakes for a couple weeks and focus on strengthening and healing.

Sometimes we humans do silly things like that. Or is that just me???

I went on a no-running cleanse and did alllllll the strength-training and alllllll the yoga. I took 3-4 weeks off and focused primarily on these exercises (great for all runners to keep in your strength-training arsenal!).

After a those weeks off I hit the road again, expecting to be good as new.

Nope.

I still had pain after a few minutes on the pavement. Albeit, it's very hilly around here and that wasn't the best for the particular problems I was having, but I clearly still had some weaknesses that had to be worked out. I felt really defeated, though, and mentioned my frustration to Alex.

He suggested some running spots that I was unfamiliar with, out in some corn fields (not kidding). He thought the grass would allow me to run pain-free and continue to build up strength.

I was skeptical, but I tried it out.

It was an enormous success. I started doing about 30-minutes of "grass running" about 4x a week, and continued this for 2 weeks. Then I moved onto trails and built up to occasional 40 and 50-minute runs. I became quite a regular out there.

The trails are relatively popular, but I don't see many people out during the times that I run (either really early or middle of the day, depending when I can fit it into my schedule. 

Sunrise :)

I try to engage in safety precautions like bringing my phone and wearing my road ID, but luckily I do have someone to look out for me...

I named him Philip. He actually may be a girl, I don't know him that well yet. But I do stop and say hi to "Philip" every time I run past!

Now I'm running more on covered trails, and I can run on pavement occasionally and haven't had any problems. Hopefully the worst is behind me.

Now I'm trying to build my endurance back up so I can go into marathon training with a solid base, but not exhausted. Sometimes it gets a little discouraging, knowing how far I am from my goals, but then I remind myself that I'm at the exact ability-level that I was last June before I headed into marathon training!

In addition to yoga and the exercises I mentioned before, I've been sticking with General Strength and Mobility  exercises and 8-minute abs. I have not been rowing regularly, and want to keep the (little) arm and back strength that I had. So far, yoga is doing a great job of that!

Happy Thursday everyone! Have a great day!

New Summer, New Training Cycle, New Me?

I realize that this is like the 42nd time that I've said "Okay guys, I'm really going to get back into blogging now!" It feels wrong to make false promises and to say "this is really it," again, but I will say that this time I really do think I'm back. I've just extracted myself from a difficult couple of semesters, I'm going to be entering a new marathon training cycle in a few short weeks, and I find myself once again in the throes of a lonely summer with more time than usual for naval-gazing and self-reflection - two things that have, in the past, contributed to the livelihood of this blog. 

As I'm writing this morning, I should be studying for the GRE. I've even brought myself to a coffee shop in hopes that the vibe here would encourage a "study mood." The test is on June 30, and I'm supposed to be studying 3+ hours per day in preparation for it. I can't believe I'm already at this equal-parts-exciting-and-terrifying crossroads in life... I'm at the point where I'm preparing for a new stage in life - for some of my peers that stage is employment, for others it's a year of travel or volunteer-work, for me it's going to be grad school, in some way shape or form. The murkiness of the future is scary but also promising. I have little to no idea where I'll be or what exactly I'll be doing year from now. The next year will hold a series of new starts. 

I've turned the page on an academically and emotionally challenging semester. I was taking around 20 credit hours and traveling for research-related conferences, and my family also suffered the loss of my beloved grandfather. He was nearing 93 and led a wonderful, full life, but we still feel his loss sorely. We laid him to rest in Santa Ana, which elicited an impromptu trip across the country in the midst of school. It was completely worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat just to be there for him and my family. I think about him and miss him every day, and it's hard for me to believe that he's not here.

 I'm spending the summer conducting my own research project on the correlation between acquired capability for suicide in athletes (I work in a clinical psychology lab at my university). I've also recently completed training to become a "Qualified Mental Health Specialist," and now I'm and employee at my county's "Community Counseling and Crisis Center," as a hotline consultant. We're open 24/7, so it's relatively easy for me to get hours that conform around the rest of my schedule.

With some of my research at a national conference:

After eight-ish months of on-and-off post-marathon injury, I've finally gotten things together and been able to start running pretty regularly again. Right now I'm working on building my base again because as it turns out...

Yep, I'm headed back to Chicago :) I've got aspirations of a new PR, but I'm trying to stay healthy and un-injured for Boston in April 2016, as well. I've spent a LOT of time in the last month working on building my hips, core, and glute strength so that I can stay strong. I've also been trying to work more on stretching, which I definitely think I needed more of in the later phases of my marathon training and post-marathon last fall.

As it turns out, I'm also turning into a pretzel. I'm trying to better my physical and mental health through becoming heavily involved in yoga. I first developed familiarity with Vinyasa yoga when I was eight years old (which is when my parents bought me my first yoga mat and gave me a DVD) and have practiced on-and-off since then, both in studio and just on my own with what I know. 

This time around I began a 40-day yoga and meditation challenge as outlined in this book, which I would absolutely recommend, whether or not you want to do the challenge or just follow the yoga and meditation tips and instruction!

I am primarily living alone this summer (I say primarily because I'm back and forth a bit between university and home with my family) and that's led to a whole new adventure in terms of cooking! I definitely look forward to sharing some new recipes.

When I do come home I have been taking advantage of cycling with my dad, relaxing, and running around my favorite spots in my hometown.

With that... I should stop procrastinating and get my studying in. It's good to be back! See you tomorrow?

Some random things and a few recipes!

A few randoms:

My friend/roommate got me this great shirt for my birthday - love it!

My toes were VERY messed up after the marathon... blisters and cuts everywhere for weeks. I've always questioned running in toe socks but I went to our local running store with a gift card and he suggested these. They have been GREAT for blister prevention. I haven't done any truly long runs yet but normally I get small blisters here and there just from short runs and with these - nothing! No rubbing. I want to get a second pair all in pink :)

This is why I like to start the day with exercise :)

My knee has slowly but surely been getting better. I tried to run outside a few weeks ago when the weather was nice but all of the hills here really aggravated my knee and I had to take some days off after that. So since then, I've stuck to the treadmill. Sometimes I'll bump it up to 1% incline about halfway through my run, other times I leave it at 0. THIS article explains that it might not necessarily be more beneficial to your runs to use the incline. I'm undecided, personally! This week my running has looked like this: 

Sunday: 5 miles
Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: Off (work 7-9:30AM)
Thursday: 6 miles
Friday: 7 miles
Saturday: 4 miles

My most consistent "rest day" is always Wednesday because I've started working at a dining hall on that day. I typically take another rest day off on Saturday or Sunday unless my knee is feeling really good and have time!

Tried to smile but it turned out to be a grimace because it was 6:58AM.

We had a snowday on Thursday (first full day cancellation due to weather at my university in FOUR years!) and I had plenty of time to get my run in and not rush to class. It was great :)

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Let's talk about recipes!

A friend sent me an awesome cookbook for my birthday - Racing Weight Cookbook. It has TONS of amazing recipes with maximum nutrients for athletes. It written by two authors - one is a marathoner and one is a rower/marathoner, so it's pretty much perfect! I've tried several recipes from the cookbook  and wanted to share a couple.

The first one I really liked were these wheat-free banana coconut bars. They have oatmeal, a banana, and coconut oil as the main ingredients and came out really well. I cut them up and packaged them individually so I could throw them in my bag for snacks at school all week!

Another quick, easy recipe from the book were these "salmon cakes." All you need is some cooked boneless, skinless salmon (in a can) and some panko breadcrumbs and these take about 20 minutes to whip up! 

Smoothie bowls with the following ingredients are a hot item around here right now too...

Yum.

Yesterday for lunch I made a sweet-potato chickpea wrap from a recipe on Thug Kitchen. If you aren't familiar with Thug Kitchen, you should DEFINITELY go read that recipe ASAP. It's worth it - you'll probably laugh the whole time. I love Thug Kitchen because despite their tough exterior, they offer healthy, vegan recipes and make eating healthy the BA thing to do. 

These wraps were the bomb.

Steam the sweet potatoes and chickpeas

Slice up some red onion to sauté with lemon juice

Thinly sliced apple

Shazam! Delicious wrap! Or burrito bowl if you wrap ends up ripping like mine did.

Hope those recipes tide you over - more are coming!

Everyday should feel like a birthday.

A few weeks ago, I found this: 

On Monday I turned 21. I had a lovely day, which started with pink m&ms in my cereal and a nice treadmill run. Pretty ordinary (other than the pink m&ms) but at the same time, perfect. I didn't do anything too novel for my birthday - I realized how "normal" the whole day actually was. In the end, my sister organized for a handful of friends to be at my apartment when I got home from dinner, and that was really special. But other than that, birthdays are getting pretty routine for me! Not as exciting as they once were.

I saved this flavor LUNA bar to eat that day

Google wished me a happy birthday

I received some special goodies :) Alex gave me the warmest scarf and hat and my mom sent some clothes that I'd been eyeing. 

One of my dearest friends sent a couple great books. I've already plowed through the cookbook and marked all the recipes I would like to try. And last night I started reading Sherlock Holmes for a few minutes before I went to bed.

Thank you to everyone who wished me well for my birthday! I've been doing a lot of cooking and there's some foodie recipes coming up soon!

Cooking at my apartment.

My blogging was so sparse last semester that I don't think I ever talked in depth about how I was doing with the cooking at my first apartment. Throughout the semester, I never stopped loving being able to prepare my own foods and go to the grocery store. It's one of my favorite things about apartment life. I never once opted to eat out to avoid cooking. 

I try to stay organized about my grocery shopping so that I don't grab the wrong things that I won't use, or certain components for recipes but not others. For example, if I don't go in with a plan, I might come out with 3 boxes of delicious cereal but no milk. 4 cucumbers for a salad, but no lettuce or dressing. Or, 3 bunches of lettuce that I'll never be able to eat before it goes bad. Peanut butter, but no jelly. You get the idea. So, I always make a grocery list. I sit down and plan out the meals that I'd like to have for the next week. I like to write the list in the order that I go through the store; usually starting with produce and ending in dairy. I methodically work my way through the store, crossing stuff off my list as I go (or deleting it from my phone). 

One of my favorite parts of grocery shopping is that I generally bring Alex with me. For the majority of last semester, we always went to the grocery store midday on Fridays (which we both had free from classes). Often times, we didn't spend time together all week until Friday, so it became our "thing." However, while I try to be methodical about my grocery shopping, Alex is the opposite. He likes to run all of the store in no particular order, as things come to mind. It drives me CRAZY! The supermarket is giant, so I inevitably have to chase him so I don't lose him, all while trying to maintain my composure and grab the things I need along the way, trying not to allow my organized system to be disrupted. It's equal parts frustrating and hysterical. 

Towards the beginning of the semester, I did several crockpot recipes; usually thick soups or stew-type meals. I still have some leftovers from those in my freezer. As the semester went on, I got very obsessed with roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli and started eating those everyday. Post-marathon, I started making goals to meet a daily protein quota, so I started finding fancy ways to fix eggs so it wouldn't get boring. I also began eating a lot of vanilla Greek yogurt with cereal. And of course, lots of nut butters :)

I haven't busted out the crockpot yet, but I did make blueberry muffins on Sunday night while watching Downton Abbey. 

My mom has been recently obsessed with the cookbook "Thug Kitchen." It's pretty hilarious; take one glance at their website and you'll see why.  Once you get past the language, there are tons of amazing recipes to choose from. AND all of the recipes are vegan! Many of them offer non-vegan substitutions, but even so, most of these recipes are very healthy. A lot of them even offer tips on where to find certain ingredients in the grocery store, which I find helpful, particularly for the more obscure things. 

I made a list of the "Thug" recipes that I thought I would enjoy most, and I'm hoping to try a few soon!

Chickpea Tabbouleh.

"Hoppin' John."

Sweet potato & chickpea wraps.

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I've been running about 30 minutes every day since getting to Oxford - all treadmill miles since it's usually dark in the mornings when I'm running, or just too cold. 

This morning I had the pleasure of having the fitness center to myself the entire time. Loved it.

I loved being able to run without feeling self-conscious - and setting the TV to the channel I wanted!

Hopefully next week I'll go up to doing some 40 and 50 minute runs!

Recovery and 21.

It's been 8 days since my wisdom teeth were taken out, and I'm doing a lot better! I didn't do any activity (other than shopping and a short walk around my neighborhood) until yesterday, which marked a week post-op. Yesterday I took a short 1.4 mile run around the lake in my neighborhood, and it didn't feel to great on my mouth! Not sure if I'm going to try that again today or just wait another couple of days.

I have also developed a complication with one of my incision sites... it's called "dry socket" and it's even more unpleasant than it sounds. Won't go into too many details there, but even with that wrench in my recovery I'm feeling a lot better (and looking a lot better!) and returning to normal activities. The painful dry socket can take up to a month or so to start feeling better so I'm interested to see how that affects my cooking and exercise choices for the next few weeks... you might see a lot of soup recipes on here!

There's much more exciting things going on though! Tomorrow I'm headed back to school with my sister and Alex. I feel like I'm finally getting into a routine here after weeks of travel, then the flu, and then oral surgery. However, I'm excited and optimistic for this coming semester. 

Speaking of which, I've been thinking a lot about my running goals recently. As I've probably mentioned on here, I had been planning on training hard to run a (hopefully!) very speedy half-marathon this semester. It seemed like a good idea after the marathon. Half-marathons are a lot easier and less stressful to train for (particularly in terms of time commitment). It would also be easier on my body. However, my IT-band injury really complicated that plan. I'm only now starting to get to the point where I can run regularly, and I don't have any sort of base to build on so I should not start a training cycle. When I do run, I'm painfully slow. I've stayed in shape for the most part by doing a lot of rowing and spinning, but being sick for a week and then being out for this past week definitely didn't help. For right now, I have a short term running goal: build my base back up. Hopefully I can get started with that on Sunday or Monday when I'm settled back at school :)

I'm optimistic, because when I came back from Luxembourg, I definitely wasn't in tip-top running shape. I ran about 20-25 miles a week when I was lucky, and there were often chunks of time where I couldn't run at all for a week or two do to traveling logistics. When I did run, I ran VERY slowly. All my runs were easy and I never once did a "workout." However, I came home from Europe, did about 3 weeks of base running, and hit the marathon training hard. I fell into a groove right away. I'm hoping that happens again and I get my mojo back quickly. While I was abroad, it was hard for me to accept at the time, but I think my body really needed those 16 weeks of "easy." I've been constantly in training for something since I was 14, whether it be rowing or running. I try to think that way about this period since the marathon, too. In the 8 weeks between the marathon and winter break, I did a lot of elliptical, but I'm not sure that did much for me. Now I've had about 3.5 months low-intensity workouts and I hope to start this semester with a renewed energy, ready to work hard. 

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Last night, my parents took me out to dinner for my 21st birthday. It's not for another 1.5 weeks but they wanted to do something since I'm about to leave town. We had an amazing cake from Whole Foods for desert... It's called "Chocolate Dream."

For my birthday, my mom bought me my first suit. I found two amazing pieces at Express. I wasn't sure if I should pick pants and a jacket or a skirt and jacket, but I figured I can always add the component I don't have later on. I found trousers and a jacket that fit great. After trying about 47 different stores, I finally found pieces that I felt confident in. I think it's hard for women to find suits that are professional, yet appropriately attractive. I loved that Express had tailored pieces - I won't have to get these altered at all!

This is a very grown up present... Makes me wonder about my age. I'm not sure I feel any more mature or different than I did at 17, though I imagine I must be. In high school, one of my teachers told the class that 21 is the age that women start lying about their age and pretending to be younger. How depressing is that? I think it was hardest for me to turn 20 last year. 20 seemed a lot older than 19. If I have ever had any aging crisis, it was then. Fortunately, it was a bit hard to spend time dwelling on that since I was very busy traveling during that time.

It's also hard to complain when your boyfriend takes you to Paris for your birthday. On the day I turned 20, I got to look down at one of the most amazing cities in the entire world!

I've got a "recipes" post coming soon! Trying to uphold my goal of getting back into my blogging routine :)