1 Photo of Me.

It's the last day of the 10-Day You Challenge... and I have to wrap it up with a photo of myself, which isn't too special because I post pictures of myself all the time! I'm going to share a photo from one of my favorite places that we visited in Europe - Marseille! I've been missing Europe lately, especially the French-speaking parts that we visited.

I decided to make a goal of watching at least one French film per week - no subtitles. Right now I have "Amélie" and "Les Intouchables" lined up...both of which I've seen before but they are favorites! I haven't had time this week because work has been crazy but it's clearly going to be an exciting weekend ;) 

Had an embarrassing and less-than perfect start to the the day...overslept by over an hour! That never happens to me! Shows how tired yesterday's workout made me. When I do any run over 4 miles, it takes a lot out of me and usually I need to compensate with an extra hour or two of sleep. It's not just me - look at the research! Running wipes us out... I'm scared of how tired I'll be after a full marathon!

This evening after work, I found myself running again... the weather has been so great that I can't get myself to stay in our basement and cross-train, though I'm hoping to get on a bicycle outdoors by Father's Day weekend! Since yesterday was a hard run I took it easy today. I wanted to share the playlist that I've been using on my runs : 

For some of these, I'll skip through them during easy runs so that my brain only hears them when I'm supposed to be going fast and I don't get used to them... also helps stop me from being too excited to during easy runs.

After today's easy run I did some abs and arms and called it a day... definitely will be going to bed EARLY tonight.

2 Songs and National Running Day!

I'm not a huge music person so this was a tough decision... but my 2 songs for the 10-day You Challenge are :

1. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. It's no surprise that he made the list, right? I love everything he sings, and even though "Better Together" is the classic fave, I just secretly like Banana Pancakes better. To me, it's a teeny bit catchier and I like the words better! I listen to this in my room, in the car, and even on easy runs. 

2. Barton Hallow by The Civil Wars. I like folky stuff like this and this song is one that I've found myself belting out in the corn fields of Oxford as it helps me make new distance and speed PRs. I've not really caught on to pure country and I think this is more alternative-folk but it works for me! I also think the lyrics tell an interesting story, which adds to any song for me. 

This was a tough decision because I also often listen to works by Joshua Radin, Lana del Ray, Tété and several more...plus I love all of the Top 40 hits that we hear (sometimes a little too much) on the radio. 

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Today's run was a breath of fresh air after yesterday's painful calves. To celebrate National Running Day (a very important holiday!) I slept in (no work until 1PM woo!) and headed out for what I expected to be a longer distance, easy run. Started out with a light but nutritional bfast to get my body ready!

Coffee w/almond milk, banana & PB, strawberries, blueberries.

I switched running shoes to see if that would help my calves, and tried a new playlist inspired by HRG's Ultimate Half-Marathon Playlist. At first the run seemed so-so, but then I started speeding up every mile because I loved the new music so much! The run felt great, and I ended up doing a 6 mile progression run with my final mile the fastest - even faster than my 5k mile-splits. It felt GREAT and no calf pain at all WAHOOOO. Nothing like a successful run to put you in the best mood :)

As soon as I got home I filled up a glass with chocolate milk (actual DAIRY! Going well so far...) and got right on the foam roller. Rolled out my hamstrings, quads, calves, and of course the IT-band. 

Trader Joe's low-fat Swiss Chocolate milk tastes like a milkshake, yummy.

Sweaty me and my good old roller!

For lunch I prepped some collared greens (kale is my collared green of choice) and an egg, along with some regular salad, Caesar dressing, and lotssssss of watermelon. Normally I get a lot of calories with sweets, but since I have the big bike race and marathon training coming up, I want most of my calories to mean something to my body. Hence all of those iron-rich greens and healthy fats (yolk and olive oil for lunch, pb for breakfast). I have friends who have gotten really sucked into eating healthy, and it can really control your life and I don't want my whole life to be about healthy eating, because YOLO and sometimes cake and chocolate just make you really happy, which is fine! I just want to be more efficient about what I eat...if that makes sense? My health sort of declined in Europe and I lost of lot of weight and muscle, and I want to make sure my diet is on-point for the most physically demanding thing in my life so far...marathon training!

Did some 8-minute arms and abs before work and then hit the road! Morning=successful!

3 Films.

I spent much of yesterday after my run and workout trying to get some R&R... I get so worried about not having enough to do that I sometimes tend to over schedule! My 16-hour workday on Saturday and similarly busy day on Sunday left me feel completely depleted on Monday. Right now I'm working Tuesday-Saturday so I have Sunday/Monday off to relax. Monday was quiet, with lots of errands, many loads of laundry, and finally, some reading later in the evening. Phew, I needed that!

Today's topic for the 10-day You Challenge is...3 Films!

1. Princess Bride. Wow, I love this movie. Narrowing down to 3 films is tough... with 2 parents that are graduates of UCLA film school, I've grown up with a high value and appreciation of film. You know I love it if it made this list! I find "Princess Bride" to be a hysterical rendition of William Goldman's original book, with a great script and good acting. I can't watch this movie without cracking up throughout. I never get tired of it. I actually even take it everywhere with me...it comes with me each semester to college, accompanied me to Europe (we watched it once on the TGV headed to Paris for the weekend), and will continue to follow me wherever I go, I'm sure!

2. Black Swan. I should start off by saying that I love Natalie Portman. I think she's a great actress and a very normal person; a non-crazy celebrity. Most people I know are somewhat terrified turned off from "Black Swan" because of it's dark and gory nature. Personally, I think it's a brilliant work of art (good, raw film) and it doesn't bother me. I think that Natalie fully deserved the Oscar she won for her acting in it! Plus, it doesn't hurt that it's centered around ballet, which will always have a soft spot in my heart (even though I'm "retired :). 

3. The Matrix. Again, I like to take this movie everywhere because it's one of those films that I just don't get tired of. I think it's such a great mixture of action, sci-fi, even romance and it's just really cool to watch, in my opinion. When I was 9 or 10, we saw a dance-adaptation of "The Matrix" at Cain Park - it was really cool. My mom was trying to explain that what we were watching on stage was based off of a movie, and she explained the plot to me. At the time I said, "That sounds scary, I don't think I'll ever want to watch it." She told me I would when I was older, and of course she was right! Besides, Keanu is great.

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Today I worked 9 hours and went running right after I got home. I've been having a lot of calf soreness and tightness on my easy runs the last few weeks, but hard runs are fine. Not sure why this is, but I ended up cutting my run short after 3 miles. Gonna try different shoes tomorrow, but I might need to just cross-train for a few days. Came home and just did 8-minute abs and 8-minute arms before dinner and left it at that. After 9 hours on my feet, it seemed sufficient! I'm just taking things easy until marathon training starts on June 23.

Check out Janae's foam rolling video! Shares some great tricks to massage those legs.