Improving, finally

Today I finally took some time to notice how much my running has really improved. I still describe myself as a slow runner, which is true, but it's almost like a defense mechanism to protect against criticism from "real runners". In addition, I think I tend to focus on my speed compared to other runners instead of compared to how far I've come, particularly since I'm just barely post-injury. In late October, my 5k time was 33:19, with two bad IT bands and a ton of pain. Today, I did about 3 miles of speed work (warm up + 400+600+800+600+400, with a one minute walk in between sets) and that took about 29 minutes. How can I be disappointed with that?! I walked about 5 minutes recovery in this workout and still am killing my last 5k. Maybe I can't run a 7 minute mile, but I can run a 9:30 now, and I did all of my intervals at about an 8:30 pace. Considering that until mid-February, I couldn't run a quarter mile without pain shooting up my thigh, I should be thrilled. So here's to focusing on my own improvements and not about the 6 and a half foot tall guy at Centennial who was lapping me, and to keep my eyes on my own mat (to use a yoga-ism :) ).

Besides, his legs are twice as long as mine anyway. :)

Oh, last thing. Have you seen the new lululemon ad? It's in April's Runners' World (p. 39) and is currently hanging on my fridge. Scorpion handstand with one leg in lotus? Killer.

Running again!

Blog resuscitation, part III? A good friend and I made a pact to blog two times a week and she's been keeping up her end of the bargain. I certainly haven't though! Trying again! :)

I went for an amazing run yesterday. As I've clearly complained about, pretty consistantly, I hurt my IT bands pretty bad back in October. However, after months of physical therapy with some amazing people and a couple cortisone shots, it looks like I may be in the clear! In fact, I feel like a stronger runner than ever, probably because of all the PT work.

So yesterday, my run was 7 miles and it felt incredible. I kept the pace pretty slow since it was the longest I've gone since injury and since I basically climbed a friggen mountain during it. I had decided to try out Edwin Warner Park, which was really pretty with tons of trails, but also mighty hilly at parts. However, no pain! I walked about a quarter mile in the middle just to give my legs a break before they needed it, but other than that, ran through the whole thing without a problem, even going up hill. A-mazing. Plus, it was 70 and sunny. Spring may finally be here!

In other news, I finally saw Coco Avant Chanel last night. It was not was I was expecting but I certainly liked it. The plot centered much more around her personal life instead of her design career but it was pretty beautifully filmed. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much French I still understand. It was still nice to have subtitles as a reminder, otherwise I probably only would have gotten a very general idea of the story. :) Hélas, j'ai besoin de plus étudier.

I have piles of work to do and would love to fit in a trip to the gym today. I had planned on taking the day off for recovery but I feel fine. Also, I'm heading to NY for Easter next weekend so things will be a tad thrown off there. Off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful weekend!

Pancake Heaven

I just had the world's most delicious, shockingly healthy pancake. (~400 calories with toppings)

Into the mix went

• 1/3 cup buttermilk pancake mix
• small handful of rolled oats
• large splash of skim milk
• egg white
• cinnamon and vanilla
• one small mashed banana

It made one giant pancake which I topped with blackberry jam and a tbsp of almond butter. SO good! I actually don't really like real maple syrup and how it saturates the pancake (ew) so I used to only eat fake syrup. However, after looking at the ingredients a while back and realizing how artificial it is, I've switched to warmed up jam. Works for me!

Anyway, last night I really didn't want to go to the gym. (I have a lot of trouble convincing myself to go on Fridays so I may need to reorganize my workout schedule to accommodate that!) I had joined the YMCA here in Nashville a few weeks ago and it's so wonderful. It's way affordable and I actually like it more than NYSC in NY and I was paying three times as much there! Anyway, I didn't feel like driving out there so I convinced myself to squeeze in a short 40 minute work out at the crappy gym at my apartment complex. So I ran 1.5 miles (no pain!) and I hit all the major muscle groups with weights. I'm proud that I was able to make myself go, even for a half workout. :)

It's miserable and rainy here in Nash, but I'm at least thankful that I'm not stuck in the DC snowstorm! Stay safe and warm!

I'm back! For real!

Oh man. So I stopped blogging regularly after I hurt my IT bands, mostly because I didn't have all that much to write about regarding training. I do realize that's a bit silly and that there are other things to talk about, but I got to the point that I would avoid clicking on the bookmarked link! However, a friend of mine inspired me to get back on the proverbial blogging horse today. (Thanks :) )

Truth be told, I really do like having the space to write down whatever I feel like telling you so I'm looking forward to turning over my new blogger leaf... again. Plus, it certainly helps that my IT bands are finally starting to get better. PT was helping to make my hips much stronger, but I still couldn't get past about 1/2 mile without pain, which would linger for hours afterward. It was so frustrating that 3 months post injury, I wasn't getting anywhere (well, I wasn't running anywhere at least!).

So, I went to an orthopedist who gave me a couple anti-inflammatory injections into my knees, which I was totatlly skeptical of and was pretty certain that they would be useless. However, I tried out running a mile a few days later and would you believe it, no pain! It actually felt good to run and I felt like I could've kept going for miles. I was a good patient and stopped after a mile though and iced/foam rolled. YES! So I'm going to very gradually increase milage and frequency and take it from there, but it finally looks like I've turned the corner on this injury.

I started having fantasies about doing the Country Music Half right away, but after some rational thought, I realized that's probably not the best plan. The last thing I want to do is re-injure myself so I'm going to take it slooooow. Plus, I found my distance race to aim for (as long as all goes well!).

Presenting: the Crossroads 17.75k! It's an 11 miler just outside DC (where I will be for the summer! woohoo!! More on that later) and isn't until June so it gives me a whole lot more time. I'm hoping to squeeze in a few 5 and 10ks before then, which I'll plan as I progress. All in all, it feels so good to be running again. My last run on Wednesday, I did 1.25 miles felt so good that my legs really just wanted to open up and run instead of the slow pace I'm keeping so I allowed myself a 30 second sprint at the end which was so fun. I'm thrilled. :)

Alright, I'm need to make myself some lunch. Last night I made a batch of Baked Sesame Ginger Tofu (I halved it though) which looks delish and I think I'll just throw some broccoli in the oven to roast.

updated for picture. mmmm:


Speaking of food btw, I want to make these Chickpea Blondies this weekend from Carrots 'N' Cake (a favorite blog of mine). They look so different and tasty. Yum. Hurray for the weekend!

Ick.

Goodness, exam time is never fun. I always find myself thinking of all the careers I'd rather be pursuing. At the moment, yoga teacher and nutritionist are at the top of the list!

I'm currently at Frothy Monkey, but am about to leave because it's SO noisy. I can't concentrate, even with my headphones in, and I have enough distractions running around in my own head without external help! I did want to share my deeeelicious sandwich though!
The Ned Sandwich! Marinated tofu, red peppers, hummus, alfalfa spouts, whole grain bread... wonderful. Plus, the side salad is acutally a real salad.

Alright, heading off to school where it is guaranteed to be quieter, if pretty boring.

I'll leave you with this interesting vintage ad. Funny how things change.... I particularly like the health warning regarding exhaustion at the end. :)

Pups!

Since I've talked about my pups so much (and I'm procrastinating), I thought it would be worth devoting a quick post to show of their cuteness.....

Martha on the trip to NY! Poor tired thing

Max and Sam

Martha and her wildfowl

Tired from chasing geese and getting under foot all day

:) :)

Belated Thanksgiving Recount

Alas, how time gets away from me.

I spent just over a week at home in New York for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be home and sit still for a moment! Of course, I also did lots of running around, seeing some people (but not enough!) and making it into the city. However, this time around, I did spend most time upstate, mostly because I was so exhausted and just needed a break. Plus, then I got to cook with my mom and play with all the pups! We had tons of people over for Turkey Day so it was certainly busy.

There was so much good food to be had and I ate like there was a famine coming! The appetizers I really loved were roasted chickpeas and baked brie with cranberries, walnuts, and currant jam (as well as some impromptu trail mix created by the chefs for cooking snacks!). The dinner menu was particularly amazing this year. We always have both a turkey (this year we actually had two) as well as brisket, plus all the trimmings. My personal highlights were the whipped sweet potatoes with caramelized apples, roasted root vegetables, jalapeno corn muffins, apple sage stuffing.... I'm really a carbohydrate kind of girl! The boy came to Thanksgiving too and I made him one of his favorite Thanksgiving dishes, green bean casserole, which I actually liked! (I was able to subdue the food snob in me for a bit!) I also tried these Sweet Potato Biscuits out. They were a huge hit at dinner, but for me, they were too light and fluffy. I like my biscuits to have more substance so I can load butter and other things onto them! For dessert, we also had deliciousness like lemon pecan squares, oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies, and my absolute FAVORITE, my mom's homemade rugula with nutella. A guest also brought these oatmeal bars which were filled with chocolate chips and gooey caramel. I pray that I never get my hands on that recipe because I must have eaten half of them (and finished the rest off in the morning).

I love how my mom plans Thanksgiving. One of my favorite tips is that the day after the meal, we write down comments about the menu which she files away for next year. It's always super helpful since it's so hard to remember specifics about the previous year. For example, from last years comments, we remembered that the meal worked better without a salad course (too hectic) and how it's always hard to keep mashed potatoes hot (thwarted again!). Also, we have dessert in a more informal setting and with bite sized pieces instead of full pies. Usually everyone is so full that bite-sized grazing is all that can be managed! Finally, for the cooking process, she also photocopies all the recipes so it doesn't matter if you spill vanilla extract all over it (oops) and there isn't a huge stack of cookbooks taking up counter space.

Thanksgiving Table, all set up before the masses descend...

....and the feasting begins!

Unfortunately, I barely got any work done (read: none) which means I'm in a bit of a crunch now. Only two and a half weeks until the end of the semester though and then home for a whole three weeks! Too bad there's a whole lot that needs to be learned between now and then...

Yoga has been going pretty well. I went to a class in Beacon at Shambhala Yoga and was the only one to come to the class so I ended up with a private session! I'm so used to my teachers method here in Nashville so the cadence of the class felt a little odd but it was still fun. I also was able to get some more one-on-one feedback on my headstand which was great! It was nice to be back here in my usual classes though.

PT has been going pretty well too. I was pretty good about staying up on my exercises while I was home but had a few days of laziness/fullness! On Tuesday I was cleared to try a 10 minute run today, but about 5 minutes in, my left knee started to hurt so I immediately stopped and walked home. I'd rather be careful this time around. Sigh. I did walk the New Paltz Turkey Trot while I was home though (walked. the. whole. darn. thing. yay self control) and had no pain! I know that I'm making progress, it just feels sloooww. I did get a pedicure today and now have glittery gold holiday toes, so that helped of course. :)

Alright, time to walk the pup and get some rest! Hopefully I'll be more productive tomorrow!