Being smart (can be tough).

So… today I had to make another one of those smart decisions. Instead of doing 10 miles with tempo pace thrown in there, I did an easy recovery run through the snow and ice. After my total of 7 miles yesterday I really needed to keep things light. I'm feeling a little more beat up from that than usual - which isn't a surprise considering the snow, ice, fast pace that I was pushing, and other contenders that I dealt with yesterday PLUS running for 2 additional miles after that. I'm not really sure that was the best idea…I just was in such a running mood!

Enjoying the (giant!) t-shirt after finding out about making it in my goal range by 3 seconds!

I want to do a 10-miler to prepare myself for a half-marathon that I'm looking at (2 weeks from Sunday… I need to decide!) but I think in the long run the best decision is to save the 10-miler for Tuesday (when I have a chunk of time) and continue to take things pretty easy until then. Due to travel I probably won't have time tomorrow to run, but I plan to spin and ellipticize on Monday and then try to put my best work into those 10 miles on Tuesday before tapering down. I think waiting is going to be hard (I am excited to do the 10 miles, but also want it over with!) but good for many reasons, including allowing me to spend more family time, more time working on a project, allowing me time to heal/recover, and allowing me to wait to do the 10 miles until I'm back in familiar long-run territory (I've never run more than 9.6 miles at home!).

My next race (and inspiration to be smart).

On a different tangent, I can't believe I'm headed back to school tomorrow! We had a Hanukkah/get together tonight at Alex's. Our contribution was our OWN s'mores cookies!

Turkey Row...

Today's Turkey Row has turned into a pizza party instead. The excess of snow and sub-30 temperatures has helped us all to decide to follow our better judgement…

Thought this comic was appropriate…

Started the day with a holiday cup of Starbucks, yum:

Today was our "mini Thanksgiving" - a redo of Thanksgiving with just immediate family. 

Mini Thanksgiving pie:

Ended the day with a family tradition…Family Stone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Started off the day on a great note with the Cleveland Turkey Trot today! It was freezing and extremely slippery, and I had to tie my shoe half-way through but it was still really fun. I came in 17th out of 282 in my age group, and according to the chip-time I made my goal despite the elements! WOOHOO.

I was very bundled this morning…

It was TWENTY DEGREES and snowing. Kept my frets warm as long as possible.

I wrapped up the morning with a very easy 2-mile run, bringing my total to 7! Now it's potato time.

Home!

I'm really enjoying home today. This morning I slept in very late, ate a grapefruit, and headed out for a run.

Definitely gave it a second thought...

I found some beautiful sights though. 

…and some very cold ducks.

Later, we headed out with my sister to take anniversary photos! I had been inspired by my run and wanted to take pictures in the same spot.

We decided to repay my sister by taking her to our favorite French bakery. We shared a few of our favorites. Who couldn't love a turkey cupcake and golden maceroons?!

The aftermath…

I was really glad we all go to hang out!

Food Tuesday!

Mostly I'm going to write about food today.

Firstly, check out my lunch! Rice, corn, lettuce, tomato, salsa, and a little bit of sour cream. Yum.

Janae shared this yummy article today. I cannot wait to be back home in my kitchen to do some cooking!

Yum.

I did 35 minutes of spin yesterday and had planned to run about 3 miles today…but travel plans are probably not going to allow it. Mostly because all of my running stuff is packed, but I also have had some errands and other things to get done. I'll probably just do 3 easy miles tomorrow and then Thursday is…TURKEY TROT! I can't wait…so excited!

Otherwise I'm looking forward to the Turkey Row, seeing my family and friends, and some general relaxing!

Turkey Day #1!

Thanksgiving is in the air, people! Today I had my first Turkey-day celebration with a bunch of other students from my community. Two of the boys cooked a whole turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, gravy, hot cider, and pumpkin pie! A huge undertaking, and they did a great job. I only ate mashed potatoes but everything looked wonderful.

My potatoes.

My friend's much better food picture of all there was to eat!

Before our traditional 4PM dinner-time, I went running. I pumped out 4 miles at my "goal pace." My legs are definitely still tired from Tuesday's run, but it wasn't too hard to hit my pace today. I have decided that I want to take the Turkey Trot semi-seriously and rest my legs before, so I may run tomorrow but will definitely cross-train on Tuesday and take Wednesday off. Tomorrow might even be a cross-training day!

It was 28 degrees when I ran…hot cocoa was a requirement when I got back.

Looks like I'm in for a white Thanksgiving when I return home!

Running, flurries, and what to eat!

This week has carried on as usual. Since I ellipticized on Wednesday, I ran 5 miles on Thursday…my legs were still SO SORE from my Tuesday run. My mind was ready to go that fast for that long but my legs were a bit shocked. I took Friday off so I could rest…and spend more time working on our Murder Mystery party…which was last night and was a huge success!

Realized I was still wearing my pearl earrings during my Thursday run. A little fancier than I usually choose to dress for my runs but at least it matched the white theme?

I had an exam on Thursday morning and I wrote this note to myself to read when I woke up…sometimes I am my best motivator! 

I'm back on the refueling-with-chocolate-milk train.

Today was freezing though. I got in 3 miles before I threw in the towel and had to warm up.

Trying to get a picture of the flurries (it didn't work).

Came back and refueled with hot chocolate (and a biscotti from Alex).

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I found this article about what to eat and how long to eat it before a run. I do most of my runs at an "easy" pace, and find that when I am running easily I can eat basically anything before a run. I've eaten cold pizza, chocolate, apple, etc (not all at the same time) within minutes of heading out the door and have 0 stomach issues. However, if I'm doing a harder workout and am trying to keep a pace or do a progression run, I find that eating anything within the hour causes problems. I think that this article offers some good suggestions that are creative and also energy efficient. Will definitely have to try some of them while I'm home running over winter break!

Too early and motivation.

I hit the coffee line so early that there wasn't any line… bleh!

Today I hit up the elliptical for 35 minutes. At the end I was really tempted to do my 25-minute spin workout but I knew I should hurry back to have enough time to study for my exam, which is tomorrow morning. Boo exams :(

It's probably best that I stopped after ellipticizing so my legs can get back to normal…they are very sore after yesterday! I'll be back to running tomorrow.

One of my motivators to et through the exam…

Also, happy Hug a Runner day! Everybody find one and give them a big hug!

Bonus points if it's me!

(I just found out that GOHARD stands for Globally Organized Hug a Runner Day).

WOAH AMAZING RUN.

Not sure if you could tell from the title, but I had an amazing run this afternoon. I went into it thinking to do about 7-8 miles, had a new playlist, and was hoping to do "speed work" during the fast songs (which would come randomly). However…after a few warm-up miles…I just kept getting faster! I didn't expect to hold it but suddenly I did and kept holding a sub-8 pace for 8.5 miles. This is significantly faster than I have ever run for that distance (miles 4, 5, and 6 even ended up being faster than my 5k PR - not counting the one on a mis-measured course).

During the run I felt unbelievable…the last 0.5 was really the only part that felt uncomfortably hard. Throughout the run - which took place in the middle of the country - I was singing to my new playlist at the top of my lungs. Hope no one heard my craziness…I was just so happy! I finished with the biggest high and my perspective completely changed on my day - and on my running abilities.

I haven't been too intense with my running lately so I'm not sure where this came from. Maybe it was these socks. 

or the magical playlist!

Now relaxing for 5 seconds with this book and some chocolate. Then back to studying.

WOO.

Ninja running and overtraining.

Sometimes when you go running, you just have to be a ninja.

Except for your feet.

Yesterday HRG's blog had some interesting light to shed on overtraining. She found an old article that talked about the symptoms and risks of overtraining and I definitely was intrigued. I knew that my 30-mile week a few weeks ago was a big leap for me (20 is usually my sweet spot, even in half-marathon training. This is due to the fact that I'm also a rower and cross train quite a lot for running). Someday I'd like to amp up the miles, but if I want to make it a habit I have to do so slowly. Nutrition is also important. When I get stressed, sometimes my nutritional efforts fall towards the weigh side and this can definitely have an effect on the quality of my runs. Are you overtraining?

{SOURCE}

Anyways, I just thought that was interesting because now that I know how big of an effect overtraining can have, I won't let it get me down if I think I'm working really hard and still struggling to hit my goal paces. Chances are I'm overdoing it!

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In other news, yesterday I did a 30-minute easy run. Today I'm looking at doing 5-8 miles…not sure yet. I'll have to decide when I see how I feel out there. Sad news is: I lost my gloves that I use for running :( So I have to definitely buy some more before I head out today or else it'll take an hour to get the use of my hands back.

On my running wish list…

It's a flip belt. You stick your keys, chomps, credit card, etc. in there, put it around your waist, and flip it over and bam! Plus, pink is awesome. Nothing will fall out and it won't be annoyingly stuck bouncing in your pockets or your waistband or your sports bra. Something like this looks so awesome I would probably wear it all the time.

Rowing formal, hockey video, spinning day.

Hockey snippet! Fight song after scoring a goal.

We had the yummiest family dinner last night. I had a nice spicy salad with corn and beans in it and corn chowder! 

I was barely able to make a dent in all of that food but I got to take home a lot of leftovers. Win!

Last night was the Crew team Formal and I got to hit the town with my sister! 

This morning before she left we took advantage of the Starbucks seasonal treats!

Later on I did 25 minutes of spin…

…and 35 minutes of ellipticizing...

…while watching SYTD (Say Yes to the Dress)!

Enjoying some yummy clementines my parents got for me…excited that it's clementine season again!

Everybody have a good week!

Special week.

This week was a special week because:

(That was yesterday.)

We went to breakfast together before starting our day. 

Classic "me" breakfast!

Hi!

Later, Alex headed of to run at NATIONALS and so later on in the evening I went to a hockey game with a bunch of friends. 

Sis visiting me!

Pictures with Swoop were a must.

So was unhealthy food…

Today as been a day spent with my sister and parents. Nice and low-key, taking a break in the midst of lots of group projects and exams (tis the season…)

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This week I've been trying to incorporate some cross-training with my running. I think my legs get too tired if I don't do that, and it's hard to have quality runs. As usual, for me it's quality over quantity! My rest days are usually Wednesday and Saturday, but on Thursday and Friday I did a 30-minute run and 30-minute elliptical (respectively). Tomorrow I'm looking at some spinning…then trying to find an opportunity to squeeze in a couple 8 and 10-milers sometime soon. Really looking forward to Turkey Trot!