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 :)

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 :)

Hi, 2015!

I failed to mention this earlier because I didn't want to sound complainy or overly negative, but blogging as been a little bit hard as of late because my computer has had a broken hard drive for the past 6 weeks. It got me through finals week, but as soon as I was home free for break, it gave up on me. Or should I say, blew up on me. It's a complete goner. I took my computer to the Apple store and they fixed it within hours, but when I found out that my university would do free data recovery and the Apple store wouldn't, I had them put the old, blown up hard drive back in. I'll be back at school next week and hopefully able to get some my files - especially my Europe pictures - back, since not all of them were backed up. Even more ironically, I had JUST started doing a huge back-up 2 days before the hard drive exploded on me. 

Anyways, my lesson has been learned. I need to back up my computer way more often than I was doing. However, I've been getting through the last 6 weeks on a myriad of different devices... my mom's PC, sometimes. Other times, her tablet. Recently, Alex has lent me his laptop, since he's been using his family's desktop at home, so that has been a Godsend. So, that's part of why I failed to get back on the blog train. I can write posts on any computer, but the question has really been how to incorporate good pictures into those posts without having to upload them to a bunch of different computers. I tried writing a post on a computer and embedding photos from my phone directly, but the quality just wasn't very good. However, other stuff has been been taking precedence, too. I did some traveling; visited Alex's sister and her boyfriend in North Carolina for about 5 days over New Years, and then after just a couple of days back at home, I took off to Atlanta with Alex and my sister to visit my aunt and uncle, cousins, and grandparents for a weekend.

In recent news, I'm back to running. Not very long, and not every day in a row, but I've run up to 5.5 miles or so without problems. I'm still rowing and spinning and going to PT, but I'm scheduled for a follow up with my doctor back at school when I return and hopefully I'll finally be cleared and back to normal. Hopefully I'm posting running workouts again soon!!!

It's been about 5 degrees on most of the days I've been running recently...

Speaking of which... I order new running shoes for a major bargain on Amazon. These are the breast cancer edition of my regular shoes. Sorry for the blur.

Also, I've got my wisdom teeth removed. Except for the marathon, I doubt whether I have ever been more nervous for anything in my life. I mean, I was already losing sleep over this in early December. December! I had never had a surgery before, never been sedated or put under or cut open or anything like that, and I was nervous to do so. Partially, I was completely psyched out by all of those awful (and admittedly, sometimes very funny) viral videos on the Internet of people having crazy reactions to the anesthetic. I did NOT want that to be me. I also wasn't looking forward to what I expected to be a weekend full of pain and swelling. I was also hard bent on NOT taking the Percocet that my surgeon was going to prescribe me. There are a lot of personal reasons for this, of which I'll spare you. Anyways, in sum, I was just dreading this procedure. I just had it done on Thursday, and I'm doing all right. I've only had to take Motrin - the pain is really not bad and almost nonexistent, but I've been wearing lots of scarves and staying inside everyday since the procedure since I definitely have a lot of swelling! It makes me feel weird not to look like myself. I hardly had any the first day, but my face has pretty much looked like a potato since day 2. Today's day 3, and I expect to be able to go out and do some normal activities by tomorrow, but I'm just not up to it yet. In all, the procedure was about what I expected in terms of recovery. 

2 shots of me directly after the surgery.

This is me today: 

Yep. Full on ninja mode.

My grandma knew I was pretty nervous so she gave me this little stone, which I kept in my pocket during the procedure!

During and directly following the procedure, I didn't have any weird reactions at all. They actually didn't give me an anesthetic, just laughing gas and novocaine. The laughing gas was nothing special - it just knocked me out! I had to take an Ativan about 2 hours before my appointment, and that didn't seem to have any effect on me. My surgeon told me that it must be having a great effect on me then, because I was probably so nervous it just made me feel regular! Once combined with the gas, I fell right asleep - or at least I think I was asleep for awhile. I don't remember them putting in the IV or giving me the novocaine, but I do remember the middle and end of my surgery and a lot of loud drilling, which they had to do to wrench my teeth out. As soon as they took the gas off, I felt just regular - if not a little grumpy because having gauze jammed in your mouth can be an unpleasant sensation. I read THIS post several times before having my wisdom teeth removed and this probably was the most accurate for what I ended up experiencing and made me feel better because it was honest and funny at the same time. If you have to have yours out, I suggest reading it :)

I guess I've seemed a little miserable during the last couple of days... so my mom gave me an early birthday present!

I'm so excited for that to go on my fridge in my apartment!

When I was fresh home from surgery I was STARVING because I hadn't had anything to eat since dinner the night before... which is just way too long. My mom brought me a caramel mug cake, which ordinarily I probably wouldn't choose to eat but at the time I just inhaled it (as fast as someone who just had four large molars removed can) and it was delicious! So now I keep looking up recipes for new mug cakes, since I'm still on a mostly liquid/mushy foods diet. I found this - the absolute holy grail of microwave mug baking. There's a ton of great recipes for all sorts of mug cakes and cookies, all of which can be ready in a matter of minutes. 

Other things I've been doing in the last few days, aside from obsessing over the art of baking in the microwave... watching A LOT of Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I'm sure I have seen every episode about 98375928 times since I used to follow it on TV and my sister and I would often borrow the boxed sets from the library and binge watch them. I've been watching so much Gilmore Girls in the last few days that I haven't even touched the stack of DVDs I rented before my surgery. 

So that's the update... I'll keep posting as I'm able and hopefully a lot more once my poor computer is fixed!