The Last Eight Weeks

Hello! It's been a while. Last time I checked in I had just DNF'd my first race and was dealing with piriformis syndrome. Sadly, eight weeks later, I am still dealing with it. No running. No sitting. You get the idea.

2013 has been a rough year, at least on the running end of things. I've been injured or slowly recovering from injury more months than not in the past 365 days. The last truly good race I ran was the Baltimore Marathon last October. It's pretty much been downhill since then and believe me, it has left me questioning what I think my body is actually capable of vs. what my mind wants it to be capable of.

In any event, at least each injury gets easier to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely bitter everytime I see someone running and I have avoided reading other running blogs at all costs. Frankly, I don't want to hear about someone else's awesome marathon recap while I'm benched for the best running weather season of the year. Still, aside from one or two days during the last eight weeks, I've been okay with not running. Or at least, I've accepted it.

Luckily, this fall has been absolutely insane between work and school and life and while I would love to be running right now, at least I'm keeping busy. Here's what I've been up to the past eight weeks:

Physical Therapy
As soon as I DNF'd that race, I called the doctor and set up some PT appointments. PT has always worked for me in the past and I felt confident we could nip this thing in the bud right away. Unfortunately, PT has not really helped at all this time around, which has been very disappointing. They even tried a fancy treatment called Iontophoresis that involves driving anti-inflammatory into my butt with an electric field. I felt a little improvement six treatments later, but as soon as I tried sitting again the pain would come right back.

Standing (Lots and lots of standing)
The week after I DNF'd it was pretty clear that sitting only aggrevated my symptoms and caused a tremendous amount of nerve inflammation. At first, I tried sitting straighter and getting up frequently, but it was quickly apparent that any sitting, no matter how good my posture, was causing more pain. The problem here is that I work in an office at a desk that I need to be at for most of the day. But, where there's a will, there's a way. Solution - standing desk.

Unfortunately standing desks can cost $$$ and I wasn't about to ask my office to shell out for one. Luckily though, we live in the age of the internet and there are thousands of super crafty people out there. It didn't take long for me to find a quick, cheap standing desk hack. One trip to Ikea later and viola! Standing desk for $22.

My set up at work

The first week standing was hard and my feet were killing me (even though I was spending 50 miles per week on my feet running previous to this). Now, seven weeks later I am feeling just fine. My husband and I also bought a standing desk for home. All said and done, I have done little to no sitting the past two months and if I'm on the couch, I'm laying down horizontally. Even after this injury is over I will probably continue to stand since its better for you anyway. At this point though, I would just love to be able to sit in the car or go to the movies without feeling pain.

Graduate School
Coincidentally the semster started the week I had my injury. I have about 5.5 weeks left of my graduate program and have been working every weekend all semester to finish my thesis. I did this program in 2.5 years straight by taking summer classes. I'm literally counting down the days until December 10th when I will be DONE!

Work
My work coincides with the school year, so September and October are always slammed. Even if I was able to run, I wouldn't have time for lunch runs anyway, which had made the whole not-running thing a little easier to deal with.

Cleansing
I have always wanted to try a cleanse, but with all of the running I was doing, it was impractical to take in so few calories while I was burning so many off. I've done four cleanses over the past two months - an intense 3-day cleanse and three 1-day cleanses every couple of weeks. I don't know that I will be doing the 3-day cleanses that often since I feel like I can't work out at all during them, but the one-day cleanses are really nice and don't throw off your entire week.

I thought I would HATE the beet juice the most, but ironically it is my favorite and I could drink it every day

For those of you who are curious, I have tried three different cleanse companies so far - BluePrint, Suja, and a local Philadelphia juicer called Sip-N-Glo. If I get my act together I might just do a little omparative review.

Finding Other Ways to Workout
The really horrible thing about this injury, aside from the whole no running/no sitting thing, is that I can't bike or swim either. The nerves in my hamstring and butt become too irritated. This has been incredibly frustrating because I haven't really been able to do any cardio. I've resorted to a lot of strength training and try to fit in about 30 minutes a day, but 30 minutes of strength just doesn't compare to the amount of cardio I was getting in.

Finally a few weeks ago my husband and I bought our own heavy bag. We've been going to boxing class on and off for about three years and I've been wanting to set up a home gym for a while. Between all of the PT equipment I've invested in during my injuries and the foam rollers and hand weights I've bought over the years, turns out we have a pretty nice set up. The heavy bag has been great for getting some cardio in and of course, to take out my frustrations about not running :)

So that's pretty much been life for the last eight weeks. I am trying out ART therapy today after work and I'm optimistic about more positive results than traditional PT. I'll keep you guys posted!

Berlin: What to Do & What to Eat

Every summer since we have been together, Mike and I make a point to get away for a week, usually traveling to Central America or the Caribbean. This year I really wanted to go to Europe. It had been a few years since I'd been transatlantic and was dying to get back, even if that meant leaving my relaxing beach week behind.

We ended up settling on Berlin for a few reasons. For one, I had always wanted to go there since I did my study abroad in Rome. My roommates went for a weekend and said they had a blast. Secondly, Berlin is billed as being pretty cheap for a major European capital. Now having returned, I can vouch for that. We spent less money than we did on our honeymoon in Costa Rica and I still have euros left over!

Running aside, there is plenty to do in Berlin and we easily filled 8 days with activities. I won't torture you with the 500+ photos that I took. Instead, here is a sampling:

Complimentary breakfast every morning at the hotel usually included green tea, fruit salad, yogurt with muesli (there's so much muesli in Europe!) and toast or a roll with jam

We walked 3-6 miles every day cruising the sites and just enjoying the city:

Cool sculpture on Kurfurstendamm Strasse

Potsdamer Platz

The Bode Museum. We saw 15+ museums and memorial sites

Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam

At the Reichstag on a gloomy day

Berlin Wall Memorial

At the Berlin Zoo

On our last day, when we felt comfortable with the roads, we rented biked and cruised around for 6 hours

I've never seen so many cyclists in any city. All ages. Everywhere. 

Food-wise, I can't recommend Berlin enough. Surprisingly we ate cuisine from all over the world except for traditional German fare. The city is extremely diverse and international. You can find everything from Chinese to Italian to Vietnamese to Ethiopian.

Bruschetta for one? Yes please! From one of the many amazing food trucks at the Sunday flea market, Flohmarkt am Mauerpark

From another flea market cart - perfectly ripe watermelon spears in a cup

So many wonderfully delicious quick-stop cafes for pizza and panini

Many scrumptious salads were eaten:

But don't worry. I ate lots of dessert too!

And you better believe I raided the grocery store our last night to smuggle these treats home. I won't tell you how long it took me to go through them

Lastly, this is Germany, so of course there was beer:

They were all awesome and all as cheap as a bottle of sparkling water 

And wine. We can't forget about cheap, delicious, European wine

We now return you to your regularly scheduled running programming. 

Exhaustion and Rest Days

After a bit of a set back after the River Towns Marathon, I am very happy to be running pretty much back to normal. Normal being my usual 5 days per week of Tue-Wed-Thurs-Sat-Sun. I am also quite excited to be biking to work again. Our ride is about 16 miles round trip on a fairly flat path (except for the monster 0.2 mile hill to my front door). Over the winter I rarely biked. I just couldn't take the cold. And then it was cold until like April 30th so I wasn't doing much before then. And then I was in marathon recovery and then ITBS recovery and so it was only last week that I finally biked to and from work all five days.

Even though last summer I was managing 50 mpw running and the 75 mpw biking to and from work, my body definitely needs to adjust to get to that point. I realized yesterday that I've either biked, run, or more often done both every day the last 9 days. This explains why I am absolutely exhausted. I did practically nothing all weekend and I still barely dragged myself out of bed this morning. I know some of this is not just exercise related, but also leftover from the end of my summer class last week. Up until last Thursday evening, I had been in class 12 straight months. I am mentally and physically exhausted!

 I wish someone would carry me around when I got too sleepy to walk

Finally this morning I convinced myself to take the bus instead of biking and take a real rest day. It's easy for me to want to go-go-go all of the time, but without rest days you end up overtrained and overtired. Nine days is far too long to wait and in fact my paces were alraedy suffering late last week, which should have been a sign to take a day off. In the future I am going to keep Monday a true rest day, even if that means taking the stinky, slow bus.

November 2012 in Review

11 months down, one to go!

Mileage Recap

A year ago - November 2011: 148

January: 181.21

February: 86.84

March: 6

April: 89.59

May: 128.43

June: 137.72

July: 200.1

August: 177.48

September: 230.85

October: 270.09

November 2012: 152.91

Interesting thing #1: I ran more miles this November than last November even though this month I only ran 17 times and last year I ran 21 times.

Interesting thing #2: A third of this month's mileage was done in a single day. Crazy.

Cross Training Recap

109.55 miles road cycling
1 boxing class

A pathetic month of cycling for sure but for good reason! For one, its not worth putting the extra strain on my knees. Secondly, its freaking cold out man! Do you know what you don't do when you cycle? Warm up. 30 degrees, no thank you.

I finally had the energy to go back to boxing. I went three days before JFK, which meant that I was monumentally sore the next day and even still a bit sore at the starting line. I think I needed the extra core strength though.

What went well

Um duh, I ran 50 freaking miles! Looking back JFK still seems so surreal, like an out of body experience. I wish I could ingrain it in my memory more, but when I think about the last five months I start thinking less of the actual race day and more about all of the training miles I put in. That's where the work comes in. Waking up early 6 days a week to run in the summer humidity or the crisp fall breeze. Trudging through 20+ miles every weekend. Sure, I'm proud to have crossed the finish line, btu I'm also proud of the 20 weeks leading up to it.

What didn't go well

The knee thing. Luckily I have actually "enjoyed" not running much in the past two weeks. I put that in quotes because I'm actually not sure if I really don't care about not running or if I'm just too busy to care. I have a feeling that next week after I turn in some of my papers and have a breather that I will be dying to run again and be super dramatic if I can't.

The rest has been good though, both mentally and physically. Imagine if I trained for two big races a year and put in five months of training for each. That's 10 months a year in training. So a break is nice every so often and I appreciate not feeling like I have to get up and run at 5 am before work.

That said, I did run one whole pain free mile this morning. I diligently rested my knees all week. I even stopped crossing my legs when I sat down to remove any stress on the knee cap. I iced, I stretched, and adding quad strengthening exercises. All in all the knees feel good. Running one mile probably isn't enough to tell whether they are really good to go, but its a start!

December 2012 Goals

I've got nothing planned for December. Its wide open, which I really think I will like. I think I am going to start a new training cycle in January so I want to relax this month as much as possible. Goals are to:

• Continue resting when I feel my body needs it
• Core work, stretching, and PT exercises every night
• No specific mileage goals
• Start finalizing spring 2013 racing schedule
• Enjoy many holiday treats
• Get to the pool
• Go to a yoga class

October 2012 in Review

This month couldn’t have played out better. I’ve had my fair share of crappy running months (umm hello March) in 2012 so I was due for a super good one.

Mileage Recap

A year ago - October 2011: 125.05

January: 181.21

February: 86.84

March: 6

April: 89.59

May: 128.43

June: 137.72

July: 200.1

August: 177.48

September: 230.85

October 2012: 270.09

I am astounded at that number. I really expected to hit something more around 250, so 270 is a freaking miracle. My highest month ever and a record that will likely stay for awhile (at least until the spring). Woo hoooooo!

Cross Training Recap

161.76 miles road cycling

Another month of no pool, no pilates, no yoga, and no boxing. I even cut back on the biking a lot in comparison to previous months, but it was a sacrifice well worth it. I wish I had time enough in the day to do everything, but little things like work and school lessen workout time considerably!

What went well

My training this month went just as I had hoped all the months of this training cycle had gone: three weeks of build and one week of cutback. I guess better late than never. I started the month with a cutback week and then had three weeks of excellent mileage. I had a surprise super huge PR at the Baltimore Marathon, ran my first back-to-back 20 milers, and peaked with a 50 mile weekend.

What didn’t go well

Despite the overall positivity of this month, it did have its downs. I have never had my physical and mental strength worn down so much and there were definitely times when I questioned my ability to run this race. The important thing to realize during these times of doubt is that if you don’t work through them they will eat you alive.

November 2012 Goals

The next few weeks are all about getting ready for race day, so here’s the plan:

- Taper, taper, taper!
- Drink lots of water
- Cut out the dessert and excess sugars 10 days leading up to the race
- 8 hours of sleep a night
- Continue ab work, foam rolling, icing, and stretching every night

17 days and counting until JFK. Bring. It. On.

September 2012 in Review

This was a super fantastic month so let's get right to it!

Mileage Recap

A year ago - September 2011: 193.05

January: 181.21

February: 86.84

March: 6

April: 89.59

May: 128.43

June: 137.72

July: 200.1

August: 177.48

September: 230.85

Booyah! Bam! Smash! Hello good-month-of-mileage, nice to see ya! Can you say August redemption??!

Cross Training Recap

176.94 miles road cycling

This month I decided to stop riding into work five days a week. With all of the running miles this month I've been exhausted (Ragnar didn't help either). I still enjoy biking and certainly want to keep it up at least three days a week for cross training purposes, but at this point in my training, as we reach into peak weeks, running miles matter more than cycling miles. I wish I could have gotten to the pool at least once though! Sigh...maybe I'll get my act together next month. 

What went well

I got in three long runs this month of 20, 18, and 25 miles. I think my body is starting to adjust to running long again. I felt like I lost endurance in August so this is very encouraging. I've been a little speedier too, though I credit that to the drop in temperature and humidity. 

What didn't go well

Some of my long runs have been very mentally challenging. This is worrying me a bit, because during JFK I will have to run more than twice the distance of some of the long runs I'm doing and do it without music and on monotonous terrain (can you say 26 miles of canal tow path?).

October 2012 Goals

I have some long races coming up in October, to be detailed more in a later post. My goal is to get through them and my weekly mileage plans from here on out. Seven weeks until race day. I'm breaking that down with a cutback week, three weeks of build, and then a three week taper. Can't believe during my next monthly recap I will be less than 21 days until race day! Eek!

JFK Training: Week 3

After feeling really tired last week on only my second week of training, this week went much better!

Monday 7/16:

17 mile bike
50 minute Reformer Pilates class

Tuesday 7/17:

6 mile run
16 mile bike

While I physically felt refreshed after taking 48 hours off from running, Tuesday morning's run was nonetheless a huge pile of suck. I think I do better taking less time off between runs. After only two days I have a tough time getting into running again.

Wednesday 7/18:

5 mile run
17 mile bike
50 minute Reformer Pilates class

I wanted to do double runs on Wednesday, but I wanted to do speed the next day even more. So I skipped the double runs and rested my stems.

I had my best reformer class yet on Wednesday morning. We did a little bit of everything including the Wunda Chair, which scares the crap out of me. Two months ago I tried to do this move (below) and I could not summon the mysterious ab muscles to make it happen. Wednesday morning? Nailed it! Twice!

Source

Thursday 7/19:

6 mile run (speed)
16 mile bike

Last week I wrote about how lame I feel for being so slow all of the time. Instead of whining more I decided to buck up and hit the track. Mike agreed to come along, which soothed my fears a little bit. We jogged the 1.25 miles there and did 3 x 1 mile repeats with 400 m rest in between. I had zero expectations for what my times would be like. After all, it had been six months (SIX!) since I'd done any sort of speed work.

The first mile hurt like hell. I think it hurt more than my entire first marathon did. I felt like I was going to die. I slowed up on the second mile, still exhausted from the first , and pushed it again on the third coming in with splits of 7:41, 8:08, and 7:47. All in all, I was supremely happy with the workout. I really did not expect to see a 7 register at all after so much time off. My shins felt awesome and I literally had a bounce in my step the rest of the day. Only speedwork does that for me!

Friday 7/20:

16 mile bike
60 minute boxing class

Saturday 7/21:

20 mile run

Sometime last week I decided that I just had to do 20 miles on this day. I was craving it. Even though we left late the weather was amazing, like 67 degrees and cloudy with no humidity amazing, and we cruised through the first half of the run with no problem.

Around mile 13 I ate some Sport Beans, which are pretty much the last type of gel-like energy fuel that my stomach can handle. Apparently though, I now have to ditch the beans as well, because my stomach was screaming at me as soon as I ate them. We decided to make a pit stop home, effectively ruining the whole 20-miles-straight kind of thing. I refueled on some pretzels after my GI issues were taken care of and then we finished off the last 5 miles still pretty pissed off at my stomach. I mean gels and blocks and beans might not be the most appetizing things ever, but they have convenience on their side. I guess it's pretzels and fig newtons from now on.



1 packet = 100 calories - 10 seconds to eat, fits in your shorts/water bottle pocket
Source

 

15-18 = 100 calories - 2+ minutes to eat, doesn't easily fit anywhere!
Source


Post-run we went out to a late brunch. Mike was crazing a bloody mary for some reason. Literally the last thing I would personally want after a run, but whatever. To each his own.

I kept it simple and went for the fruit and sparkling water.

Sunday 7/22:

8 mile run

My legs felt fresh as daisies for my run on Sunday, even though I ran my longest run in about 6 months the day before.

Week 3 Totals

46 miles running

82 miles biking

3 fitness classes

This week really proved to me that I was right not to use a training plan and just do everything by feel. There's no way I would have skipped a double run on Wednesday if it had been written down on a plan, but I don't regret missing it at all.

How was your week? Did you get in a particularly long run or some speed work?

JFK Training: Week 2

Between workouts, my summer class, a race, and just regular old work last week was crazy. Hence, no posts until today. Here we go!

Midnight Madness - recap coming later this week!

Monday 7/9:

17 mile bike
50 minute Reformer Pilates class

After a hilly ride the day before, I had a feeling I was going to regret not taking the weekend off from riding (and by Friday I would really regret it!). I had my first Reformer Pilates class. I've been doing Pilates now for about 2.5 months and while I really enjoy mat classes, I was dying to play with the machines. And yes, they are as fun as they look!

Tuesday 7/10:

6 mile run
16 mile bike

This morning's run was especially enjoyable on the tow path, probably due to the much cooler weather we were finally getting.

Wednesday 7/11:

4 mile run
17 mile bike
50 minute Reformer Pilates class

 I really wanted Wednesday to be my double run day because I have class Tuesdays and Thursdays, however it just wasn't in the cards. I was exhausted and decided to sleep in (well, until 6 am) and then by the time I got home after work I couldn't push out more than 4 miles. On the bright side, my second Reformer class went well and I didn't make quite as much of an ass of myself as Monday.

Thursday 7/12:

6.5 mile run
16 mile bike
3.5 mile run

Double runs for the win! I did my favorite hill workout in the morning. I think I'm going to start calling it my 7-Up run because there are seven uphills (4 big, 3 little) and 6 downhills (even though it does not appear to be that many in the profile below). After work I got in a quick 3.5 miles to round out 10 for the day.

Friday 7/13:

17 mile bike
60 minute boxing class

Boxing Friday morning was tough. I was feeling super exhausted and weak and I really struggled to get through the class. I was wondering why I felt so shitty when it suddenly hit me: I hadn't had a rest day in nearly two weeks! Not only that, but everyday I was doing multiple hours of exercise. I'm really hesitant to give up any of my activities because I love them all, however, between long runs on the weekend and biking to work alone, I really don't have a day of rest. I'm going to have a figure out a solution to this, because rest days are a necessity!

Saturday 7/14:

10 mile trail run

Saturday morning Mike and I slept in until 8 am and then headed out to Forbidden Drive. The rain started coming down as we left and ended up making it a near perfect run. Forbidden Drive is so empty and peaceful when the weather is like this.

I did become slightly concerned during the run when I started to "notice" my left shin again. I tried to take it really slow and wore a calf sleeve just in case.

Post-run we made a trip to Whole Foods to refuel. We spent the rest of the day taking it easy because we were going to run Midnight Madness in the evening. Usually I am in bed by 9:30, so not starting a race until midnight is asking a lot of my body and mind.

Sunday 7/15:

9 mile run
REST

Sunday I woke up exhausted, but still, through the mid-afternoon I had plans to run another 7-10 miles to make it a high mileage weekend. However, between my exhaustion and the disgusting humidity, I bailed on it. I figured, you know what, there are only so many times I'm going to be okay with not running and taking some time off, so I should probably take advantage of those moments. And, even though I ran a race at 12am that morning, I'm calling Sunday a rest day.

Week 2 Totals:

38 miles running

83 miles biking

3 fitness classes

Week 2 was tough even though I ran and biked less than last week. I'm really glad I took Sunday off and, despite still feeling really tired from Saturday night, I feel really good today. My muscles feel rested and I think I'll be ready to tackle running again tomorrow.   

JFK Training: Week 1

I probably won't recap every week of training, but since it was an especially good week and this is the beginning of what I hope will be an especially challenging, but rewarding training cycle, I thought why not!

When I last left you I was coming off of a two week Honeymoon. While vacation is great, after 14 days of much less exercise than normal and much more food intake, I was more than ready to hit the sweat and start working out again last Monday. No better time to start a training cycle I guess. Here is how the week played out:

Monday 7/2:

17 mile bike
1000 m swim
55 minutes Xtend Barre DVD

I was a little surprised at how much I missed biking to work and I could hardly contain my excitement Monday morning. I've really come to enjoy my 30 minute rides. It's my own personal zen time right before and after work.

Source

After work I tried out my new Xtend Barre DVD. I was doing a lot of Xtend Barre leading up to my wedding, but my intro package is now over and I don't know if I really want to throw down $20+ a class. The DVD includes a lot of the same workouts as the class. There were a few that I thought weren't very effective for me, but overall it's not a bad workout. And you definitely can't beat the price!

Tuesday 7/3:

6 mile run
17 mile bike
45 minutes Mixed Mat Pilates

I woke up feeling relatively sore from Xtend Barre the day before, which is a good sign (and makes me want to do the DVD again). I headed out for a quick run and then signed up for a last minute Mat Pilates class. It's amazing how much core strength I lost in just the two and a half weeks since my last class. Super tough, but super great feeling afterwards!

Wednesday 7/4:

10 mile run

Mike and I started 4th of July with a 10 mile run. We didn't end up leaving until 9 am. which was a huge mistake as it was already boiling hot outside. To make the run seem shorter I split it up into a 6 mile loop on the trails and a 4 mile loop on the tow path, passing by our house in between. That way it would only feel like 3 miles out and back and then 2 miles out and back.

6 on the trails, 4 on the tow path

Despite these efforts, however, it was still a positively awful run. I seriously did not enjoy a single second of it, and the whole time it had me questioning my ability to run 50 miles in the fall. But, hey, those runs happen, and you just have to realize that they won't all be good. So suck it up and push through!


So happy that damn run is over! Now let's celebrate!

Thursday 7/5:

16 mile bike
60 minute boxing class

Thursday morning I did something that I haven't done since September: boxing!!

Mike and I feel in love with boxing in January 2011, but we stopped going in September because commuting up to the studio became inconvenient once graduate school started. Now that we are much closer, we were stoked to start going again after vacation. I was absolutely terrified that I wouldn't remember all of the moves and wasn't physically fit enough to get through the class. Fortunately muscle memory is a beautiful thing and I shadow boxed my way through the warm up with no problem. It was a tough, tough class that left me sore until Saturday, but I loved every second of it. Can't wait to go back this week!

Friday 7/6:

6 mile run
16 mile bike

After work on Friday Mike and I went to our local bike store and I finally bought clip in shoes. Mike has been praising his, and I was eager to get some to make my commute feel a little easier. By the time we got home I was completely addicted to them and thought about them for the rest of the weekened.

Saturday 7/7:

15 mile run

I don't think I successfully got up early a single time last summer for any of my long runs, which is why Saturday was particularly amazing, since I was out of bed and brushing my teeth by 4:30 am. With tempertures expected to hit the 100s, I was not gonig to take a chance and leave 15 miles for 9 am. Even though I was out the door by 4:50, however, it was still really hot and humid out!

81 degrees should be the HIGH, not the low!

It was sort of miserable, but far better than it would have been had I waited. After all, I was done and back home by 7:30.

Poor Sophie could barely make it through her walks on Saturday with the heat

Sunday 7/8:

8 mile run
21 mile bike

I really had no intention of biking on Sunday, but my clip ins were calling to me, so I convinced Mike to try out a route we tried in the fall (posted about here). This route is ever so politely referred to as the "F*cked Up Hills" route in my mapmyrun catalog.

In the fall I managed to get through it on my hybrid with quite a bit of defeat and walking. Happily, between the road bike, the clip ins, and some certainly stronger "bike legs" I made it up every hill with the exception of the beast around mile 5.


The picture really does not do it justice


Five hours after the ride we both managed to get out the door for an 8 mile run. My legs felt surprisingly fresh after all of the miles I put them through during the weekend.

Week 1 Totals:

45 miles running

87 miles biking

1000 m swimming

3 fitness classses

I think it's safe to say I feel back to normal after vacation!

Did you start training for your fall races yet? How was your week?!

June 2012 in Review

Half way through 2012. Wow, that was fast!

Mileage Recap

A year ago - June 2011: 124.19
January: 181.21
February: 86.84
March: 6
April: 89.59
May: 128.43
June: 137.72

Cross Training Recap

167.95 miles road cycling
1000 m swam
3 Pilates classes
3 Xtend Barre classes

What went well

I got in two 12 mile long runs. The longest I've gone since early February. I also did a few back to backs, started some awesome hill work, and made a wise, but hard decision to forego Lone Ranger, which would now be a mere two weeks away. I also got interviewed by dailymile, which was pretty cool.

Oh yeah, and I also got married!!!

What didn't go well

I would have really liked to get more swimming in this month, and to be honest I was hoping for more miles than I logged, but I suppose honeymooning for almost half the month is good enough excuse.

July 2012 Goals

July will be a good month I think. For one, I'll be participating in Run to the Finish's 30 Day Ab Challenge. Love me some ab work!

Secondly, I'm hoping to start building a good mileage platform during July and August to help feed into my fall races. Bring on the longer runs and the 50 mile weeks! I'm ready for ya!

May 2012 in Review

This month was so crazy that blogging had to take a back seat. What didn't take a back seat, however, was running! Yayyy.

Brussels Sprouts didn't take a back seat either. I think I ate them almost every day this month!

Mileage Recap

A year ago - May 2011: 96.99
This year -
January: 181.21
February: 86.84
March: 6
April: 89.59
May: 128.43

Cross Training Recap

117.35 miles road cycling
4000 m swam
2 spin classes
6 Pilates classes
6 Xtend Barre classes

What went well

All in all May was a pretty fantastic month. I felt great at my first big-ish comeback race since injury.
I solidified my fall race plans. I got through moving day and enjoyed some new routes. And I'm even starting to get a little more accustomed to my new commute!

What didn't go well

I would say that I'm still a little frustrated at my pace of my runs. They are slower than ever. I know that speed doesn't need to play a huge part in things, especially since I'm into ultras, but it would be nice to feel a little quicker sometimes!

June 2012 goals

With the Lone Ranger almost six weeks away it's time to get busy with the long runs (or as busy as I can without re-injuring myself). This means back-to-back long runs are in full swing. For the past month I've run 10 miles every Sunday and slowly started to add single digit miles on Saturdays. This weekend I hope to get in double digits both days and just continue on from there. At some point (err...possibly wedding weekend unfortunately), I need to get in a 20 mile/10 mile back-to-back.

Other things happening:

1) Finish all my wedding things
2) Prep for honeymoon
3) Get married on June 17th!
4) Enjoy my two weeks vacation!

Do you have a big summer race coming up?

Diversifying My Portfolio

There was a time when I the only exercising I did was running. In fact my first year as a runner that's all I did. Then, last October, I was sidelined with shin splints for about 10 days. (PS. I can't I thought 10 days was bad!). I freaked out, finally joined a gym, and got my butt to spin class and the pool like it was my job.

Then I got better and I forgot about cross training until February when I was forced to deal with what became six full weeks on the injured runners bench. After a few weeks I started to enjoy my 6:30 am spin class and I had mastered the art of fitting in 1000 m swim during my lunch hour (including a shower and hair dry I might add). Then about a month ago I started to add Pilates and then Xtend Barre to get a bit more core work in. Lastly, a week ago we moved out of Center City, which introduced me to a new bike commute to work.

Dear Bike, I love you, but this commute is rough!

All that brings me to the past seven days, when it all came together and turned into a massive, sweat overdosed week. It looked something like this:

Monday: Sick/Rest

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run, 16.5 mile bike commute RT, 45 min Pilates

Wednesday: 6 mile run, 17 mile bike commute RT, 60 min Xtend Barre

Thursday: 6.5 mile run, 16.5 mile bike commute RT, 45 min Pilates

Friday: 16.5 mile bike commute RT, 1000 m swim

Saturday: 8 mile run, 60 min Xtend Barre

Sunday: 11 mile trail run

Monday/Today: REST!!!!!!!!

We capped off Sunday's trail run with a trip up the 100 Steps

If you weren't keeping track of the mileage, that there adds up to about 102 miles traveled by either running or cycling last week. And while that is super awesome (even though I wish it were 100 miles just running!), it also means I was super tired until, well, today actually. I can't tell you how excited my legs (and rear end) were to not be on a bike over the three-day weekend. Even without cycling to work it was a full week of exercising, but the addition of that commute for four consecutive days really tested my body.

The goods news is that I do feel rested and ready to tackle the commute again tomorrow. Sure, I could run less miles, or not go to Pilates or swim, but the truth is that I love doing all of those things, and while I have the energy and the time, I don't intend to cut back. It will probably take another week or two to get accustomed to, however. One thing is for sure - my body is getting a nice well-rounded workout!

Do you commute to work by bike? Do you ever feel a little overloaded by your exercise schedule?

Friday Favorites

I am really digging these Friday Favorites. It's like I can just take all of my random thoughts and crap and put them into one post. Nice!

Birthday Presents
Some birthday presents come in boxes. Others come on the two o'clock bus from New York City.

My sister has been in Africa for the past four months and I haven't seen her since Christmas. So, so excited to see her tonight!

Lana Del Ray
Has been playing non-stop on my iPhone all week. Love, love, love.

Xtend Barre
Two weeks ago the woman at my Pilates studio mentioned an upcoming deal on Living Social: 10 Xtend Barre classes for $90 (instead of the usual $199!). Since it's pilates-based I figured it would be enjoyable or, at the least, give me a rocking workout even if I hated every minute of it.

One Xtend Barre class knocked me out more than any 20 mile run every has. Who knew one pound weights could make your arms want to fall off! Some parts definitely felt torturous, but I couldn't help but love how sore I was the next day. Definitely worth a try.

Baggu Daypack (or Baggu anything)
I've been buying Baggu since the first came out however many years ago, back when they only had five or six color. Now they have a lot more options including some adorable prints. If you are someone who tried to live green, you will love Baggus. The fold up easy, can be machine washed, and are pretty responibly priced as well.

Baggu Bag

I love them so much I decided to sample one of their newer products, the Daypack, for quick bike commutes to work, or maybe when I go to the beach.

Yummy Trader Joe's Finds
Like these:

Oh sweet brussels sprouts, you are delicious in every form

And these:




And then you can add quinoa, zucchini, tomatoes, and a dash of pepper and get this:

What is one of your favorite things lately? Do you use reusable bags like Baggus?