on the move (har har)

We moved about three weeks ago (closer to work, closer to family, closer to civilization, though I do sometimes miss seeing horses when I run) and I can't decide if training for a race while also planning and completing a move was a good or bad thing or if the good and the bad just cancel each other out and it's just a crazy thing to attempt. On the plus side, I joined a gym only a few days after moving, found a park to run in shortly thereafter, and have tried at least somewhat to stick to my training schedule. The downside would be doing speed training the morning we moved (my shins were kind of angry about that, they twinged furiously all day as I went up and down the stairs) and being very lenient with myself about completing my scheduled training runs, and especially long runs. After we moved most (all?) of my long runs fell by the wayside. Sometimes a trip to Ikea just takes priority over running. 

However! I have been doing some speed training, but I've been doing it all on an inside track. I started out using the gym track for convenience, and then I decided the non-asphalt nature of the track was good for my legs, and then once the heat wave rolled in, I decided the air conditioning at the gym was good for my continued motivation to run through the summer. I mostly think this is cheating, but whatever—at least I'm still running. I have a feeling this will be my preferred method of training as long at the temperature is above 80-something degrees. In addition to counting air conditioned runs as "cheating" I have to remember that my air conditioned times are going to give me false hope for race day. I ran my fastest time ever for my 5K test recently!

I will report back after this weekend to see how my utopian training fares in the real world, where the high on race day will be in the mid to upper 80s...

Broad Street 2012 Recap

I'd like to pat myself on the back for posting this within the week of finishing the race (pat, pat). Unlike last year, when I waited six weeks or something.

I don't think I had any preconceived notions of how this race would go when I began, other than the vague hope that I would beat the time from my first year (1:43:48). I knew there was no way I'd beat last year's time (1:35:34) because last year, I did speed training. This year, I knew there was no way I would have the time or motivation to speed train since I've been spending two hours a day in the car bonding with NPR as I commute. (Good for knowledge of world news and playing along with Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, bad for physical fitness). So I went back to the beginner training plan and added spinning classes into my crosstraining routine. I'd heard from a few people that spinning would really help me get faster, so I thought it might be the lazy runner's solution to getting faster without actually speed training. A long shot, but maybe worth the sore bum?

The beginning of the day was somewhat stressful. We decided to leave for the race later than we had in previous years (when I arrived three hours early and sat around worrying about whether I should get in line for the porta potties again). That, combined with closed parking lots thanks to the Sixers being in the playoffs, and we were stuck in traffic before we even got into the city.

Oh hi, Navy Yard. So close, yet so far away. We finally made it close-ish to the train station and I jumped out of the car as we sat in the traffic jam and headed down to Septa with the rest of the herd. The train was packed like a cattle car and slow moving, to boot. I sat there, trying not to be nervous, eating a Honey Stinger Waffle, and downing three preventative Advils. When the train finally arrived in North Philly, there wasn't really time to warm up, so I just got in my corral and tried not to bump into anyone as I stretched. It certainly could have been worse, but it was not my ideal race morning start. 

I was only in my corral for about ten minutes when the gun went off. For the first mile, I made a concerted attempt to not go crazy with my pace. I only have a bobo Timex, so judging off that, I was going about 9:45. Not bad, ideally I'd like to be a bit faster, but it was ok. I felt good, and I was reminded how much I love running through Philly. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: watching little old ladies in their bathrobes and slippers come out to cheer you on is just a lot of fun. High-fiving little kids and Temple students as you run and feel the camaraderie of the runners—there's not much else like this. I imagine if I'd ever played sports when I was a kid and won a game or something, this is what it would have felt like. Unfortunately, I only ever won second place in the science fair and there was much less glory to that victory.

I saw my sister, her fiancee, and their dog around mile 5 and stopped for a quick picture, high fives, and an obligatory "What the hell," because she was supposed to be running with me and had to cancel because of a migraine. The miles went by really fast until about mile 7, which felt sluggish. I ate some energy chews at mile 5, and they must have kicked in around mile 8, because everything picked back up and I felt fine. I felt like I sprinted for the last mile or so. I couldn't believe how fast the race seemed to fly by, but it felt really good. Maybe that's where the spinning came in handy—with increasing my endurance for intense activity? Also, if you ever want to develop quadriceps like the Hulk, I'd recommend spinning and running. I'm pretty sure my thighs are bigger than my husband's (that sounds more freaky than it actually is).

I ran right by the Nacy Destroyers again without noticing them. I guess seeing them once was enough? I also guess this is really a testament to my running-focus-blinders. When I finally crossed the finish line, I ran into a wall of what seemed like the entirety of the 40,000 people running the race. With no place to cool down, I accepted my fate of sore as hell legs, got my medal, got my water, and most importantly, got my soft pretzel (nom). With a time of 1:40:22, I did beat my first year time. Definitely not as awesome as last year's PR, but I'm still happy with it. 

Another year, another Broad Street. As ambivalent as I was about training this year, I'm really glad I did. I'm going to try to keep my training going through at least the fall this year. I know the only way to do that is to keep signing up for races. Otherwise, waking up at the crack of dawn to run in the summer heat—yeah—it would not happen without the threat of missing a training run. I've signed up for a 5K next month and I'm incorporating speed training back into my workouts, so we'll see how much it helps!

be prepared!

I'm prepping for the race tomorrow and holy crap, there's a lot of stuff I'm bringing:

Shoes, socks that (knock on wood) won't cause blisters, compression socks for sleeping in, outfit with two options depending on the hourly forecast for tomorrow morning, hat, sunscreen, Advil, kleenex, watch, Road ID (in case I fall off a median while bypassing the slow people), water, Gatorade, Honey stinger waffles (pre-race food), Honey Stinger chews (mid-race fuel), and finally, my Shuffle (aka "Shuffazilla as I have nicknamed it). Loaded with the likes of Metallica (pre-Black album, if you're wondering), Adele, CCR, Girl Talk, Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age, and for the sake of embarrassing myself, Pussycat Dolls.

Oh yeah, and I'm spending the night in Philly to avoid the stress of driving 2-ish hours and battling traffic in the AM, hence the early packing. Here we go! 

Running in Amish Country

Last weekend, I went out after my run and took some photos of my route. I've lived here for a year and it still amazes me how beautiful it is. These are mostly from the neighbor's farm, which is across the street from where we live. It's hard not to be distracted by nature, which is nice. And yes, when I pass the horses, I say hi to them.

DON'T PANTS YOUR POOP

For anyone who hasn't already seen this:

Training for Broad Street this year has been sloooooow going. I've been winded, lazy, tired, sore, disliking where I run, and not looking forward to training at all. I think I might have just gotten over the hump as of yesterday. I transitioned from running on the treadmill to running outside about three weeks ago. In the past, I've been really lucky to live very close to parks with paved running trails. This year, I don't have that luxury, so I mapped out a path near where we live that would be about a 2.25 mile loop. It's a Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of a run that starts out on a really busy road (like, fear for your life and inhaling exhaust fumes busy) that has some-to-no shoulder, and then it changes almost immediately to this intensely bucolic scene of cows, chickens, and lambs grazing peacefully on an Amish farm. For example:

So you can see, I'm not kidding. I love seeing cows and farms on my run. I don't love seeing tractor trailers barreling in my general direction as I run on a busted up Pennsylvania road shoulder that is also very gravelly. Instead of letting my mind wander, I spend my time imagining how one step in a pile of gravel will lead to a really bad accident where I become runner roadkill. It was no good. So yesterday, I mapped out a different route around my neighborhood that cuts the time spent running on the busy road in half (and consequently, increases time hanging out with the local farm animals!) It was the first time that I was able to really get over the mental hump of "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this." Instead, it was more like "Look at the pretty birdies!" Which was so much more awesome.

I've also worked spinning into my training on the crosstraining days. It's rough, but a much better experience than the first time I tried spinning. My legs are almost always exhausted, but I like to think it is for the greater good of training. I'm also tackling WAY more hills now that I live in the rolling hills of Amish country than I ever did in the negatively flat state of Delaware. I can't help but wonder also how much my daily commute for work (2ish hours round trip) is affecting me. I certainly don't think it's helping. We are moving soon, but not until after the race. Bummer.

In comparison to the last post, here's a visual of my training for the first five weeks of training (something I can actually be proud of—March, then April):

There are only four weeks until race day. I really hope I can keep the good vibes going... (In the meantime, more pictures from my run. These make me so sad to be leaving, but not commuting and spending gobs of money on gas will be worth it).

broad street: third time's a charm

Today was the first day of training for the 2012 Broad Street Run (which I am lucky that I managed to register for). I am feeling less excited than last year, but less nervous than the first time I ran it. I'm hoping that as I get into a rhythm with my training, it will become more exciting. There are a number of factors that I think are Debbie-Downering my excitement, not the least of which is this:

My Runkeeper tracking of miles logged between January of 2011 and now. You can see the "Fatty McGoo Dead Zone" that occurred between July and February, with the sad little hump of one 3.3 mile run in December. In my defense, I wasn't exactly being a Fatty McGoo, I just wasn't running. Blame it on commuting 3 hours a day, blame it on planning a wedding, blame it on being in a new place and not having taken the time to find a good running trail—there's not really a good excuse. Well, maybe the commute, that's a pretty good one. That won't be a problem in approximately 89 days, but the race is less than 89 days away. So I need to get used to training and commuting. In other words, my sleep and social schedule will become even more grandmotherly than normal!

Here's my training schedule for this year.

Last year I did the intermediate version, but this year I'm stepping back to beginner because I want to be realistic. I'm going to attempt to work spinning into my routine, as I've heard it's really great crosstraining and I want to try and get over my fear and also see if people are lying when they say that your fanny gets used to the bike seat. That will be mixed with kickboxing, yoga, and core workouts. I'm thinking about attempting to keep a weightlifting class in the mix, but realistically I think the core workout will have to be my strength training because it will be less daunting on a Sunday morning. I think about doing a 6 minute squat track with 45 lbs. of weight and my quads tremble and say, "Why do you torture us?"

I'm going to attempt to find a good outside area in which to run. I've been lucky to always live near a paved walking/running trail until this year. My next best option is to run on local roads that are hilly and have some-to-zero amount of shoulder room. This is a sure bet to keep my heart rate going at a good pace. I've tried to tell myself that because we live in Amish country, people drive more cautiously, especially when coming over hills and around corners on roads with no corner. But... I'm pretty sure that's not actually true. Maybe I will talk to an Amish neighbor and find out some good resources for flashing LED hazard lights that I can pin on my shirt or something. 

So yeah, day one of week one. Here we go!

Tasty Noms

Despite the lack of posting, Operation Plan Your Damn Menu has not fallen off the wagon. I got a little hung up on thinking I should try and take nice, artful photos of my cooking—but let's be honest. That requires taking photos while the food gets cold, then eventually digging out the camera cord, firing up photoshop for the inevitable touch-ups, blah blah yada. Then I thought maybe I should do something fun like illustrate the recipes I cook. And then I thought, "Maybe I should just try and keep this blog alive with a post at least every other month," so here you have the glamorous iPhone shot of last night's dinner in the Cuisinart.

There have been some amazing and some just okay recipes that I have cooked in the last two months. Last night's beet pesto was amazing. That's probably due to all of the olive oil and parmesan cheese that's in it, but I digress. As a person whose only prior experience with beets consists of a seared-in memory of rubbery red discs served at the Merrie Moppets preschool I attended in 1986, I did not have high hopes for ever enjoying beets. The husband swore that they were delicious, so we tried this recipe. We couldn't find golden beets, but we made it anyway. It wasn't bad, though it was a little too "roughage heavy" for my tastes. It wasn't thrilling like beet pesto. Which, I would like to add, I ate while watching the new episode of The Walking Dead and felt a little wrong. Zombie brains, anyone? No? OK then, suit yourself.

Some of my favorite recipes have been Smitten Kitchen's mushroom bourguignon and spicy squash salad with lentils and goat cheese, the thai-spiced pumpkin soup, and these roasted chickpeas with feta. I'm sure some of the other recipes that I've tried and have been just ok could be really great with some tinkering, but since I have problems planning a menu a week in advance and finding all of the ingredients for some of these recipes, I'm clearly not someone who is going to attempt to make them better. 

So what's up next? I'm thinking of trying this turkey burger and maybe some chicken salad. Two non-vegetarian recipes in one week! What's up with that? Maybe I'm anemic. No, not really.

Insecurity, volatility, and risk

Interesting article from Fast Company:

Shorter job tenure is associated with a new era of insecurity, volatility, and risk. It's part of the same employment picture as the increase in part-time, freelance, and contract work; mass layoffs and buyouts; and "creative destruction" within industries. All these changes put more pressure on the individual--to provide our own health care, bridge gaps in income with savings, manage our own retirement planning, and invest in our own education to keep skills marketable and up to date. Financial commitments like homeownership or starting a family are a much tougher proposition when one, you can't expect to stay in a place for long and two, you can't expect to ever earn more in real terms than you do at age 40, as recent surveys at Payscale.com suggest.

It makes me think about my (sort of convoluted, but not nearly as crazy as some of the people in this article) path so far. I have this discussion a lot—about why we are this way. I think a lot of us look at our parents, who may not have been happy with their careers, and make a conscious effort to not get stuck someplace that isn't where we ultimately want to be. I'm sure some of it can be attributed to our parents telling us we could do whatever we wanted and be rock stars at it (whether it's true or not). Sometimes I think we feel too entitled to being happy with our careers, relationships, and lives...but then I remember how hard we have to work to get to that happy place and I remember that it isn't just a given that we'll end up there. 

This ain't no ramen noodles and hot pockets

Week one of Operation Plan Your Damn Menu has been successful. Pictured above is the Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup from 101 Cookbooks. (Excuse the iPhone photography—at least I kind of tried to stage it). I have to say, this recipe was mind-blowingly easy. It also helped that I had a bunch of acorn squash sitting around from approximately November (I'm not really sure, but it was before the local Amish food stands shut down, which was a while ago). I was a little leery of using really old squash, but they were fine. Score one for me! Also, the soup was really, really tasty. This will become a winter staple for sure.

It's time to stop eating like we're still in grad school

 The husband and I are usually relatively health-conscious people. As two recovering former chunkyweights, we try and cook foods that don't clog our arteries and make time for regular workouts. Except that over the past year or so, we've both slipped somewhat. Our long work commutes and skinny wallets caused tiredness, lack of time, waning motivation, and a feeling that the only place we could afford to grocery shop was Target. 

Don't get me wrong—I love shopping at Target. However, they don't really have a robust produce department. Which led to us stocking up on bagels, eggs, and cheese, with the occassional tub of hummus thrown in the cart. Add to that the occassional stock-up trip to Trader Joe's for bread, soup, and peanut butter (I swear they put crack in their bread, it is that good) and we basically had some variation of sandwich and soup running through our veins. Whereas it's not necessarily unhealthy, there's a severe lack of produce in our diets. I used to hate vegetables and fruits as a kid. When I went to the regular grocery store the other day and got excited by the extensive selection of the produce section, I realized that I have outgrown that hatred. Either that, or I have some form of scurvy that is affecting my food selection choices.

I've decided to try a new tactic for the new year. It's called menu planning. Have you ever heard of it?

I can't believe that my type-A self has never really planned out our menus before. I guess it just always seemed like I didn't have the time to plan our menus, or we were broke and couldn't afford to have "real" meals (please pass the Cheerios and milk), or some variation on that same theme. I have armed myself with a bevy of tools with which to accomplish this: a speadsheet with the meals we'll have each week along with the ingredients that we'll need to buy, my Pinterest board for inspiring meals, and I also just discovered Punchfork, which is another way to find good food. Although you can really tell that everyone's still on their Christmas sugar high when you browse the trending recipes.

I've noticed that I tend to be inspired only by vegetarian recipes, even though I'm not a vegetarian. I think this is because I am afraid of cooking steak and would rather pay for a good medium rare filet than try it myself. Chicken bores me. Seafood is ok, but I've heard way too many gross Fresh Air podcasts about shrimp and salmon farms to ever really be thrilled about seafood again. Except for canned tuna, which is cheap and full of that delicious mercury.

Will we stick with the menu planning, or will we slide back into the land of bagel-egg-and-cheese sandwiches? I feel confident that we'll stick with it. If for no other reason than the little voice in the back of my head that tells me I will not be able to feed my future children bagel-egg-and-cheese sandwiches every day of their lives, so I should learn to cook now. 

One of the few exceptions to my cooking meat fear is ground beef. Seen here as goulash!