Last Saturday I completed my 9 mile long run. I felt really good when I was finished and my body seemed to recover from the effort really well. I wasn't even sore the following day. Last week's stats:
Tuesday 5/3 5.42 miles
Time: 1:08:28
Avg HR: 139
Max HR: 159
Thursday 5/5 5.38 miles
Time: 1:10:44
Avg HR: 139
Max HR: 157
Saturday 5/7 9.5 miles
Time: 1:53:53
Avg HR: 141
Max HR: 157
Something happened this week, though. I was feeling pretty great Tuesday before and during my 5 mile run, but when I got home I got sick to my stomach and very achy. Thursday's run was tough and I probably should've cut it short. I did an 'easy' 5 miles of sprint, walk, run intervals and was able to complete the 5 miles. My recovery from Tuesday's and Thursday's runs has been difficult, so last night I went to bed early and got a couple extra hours of sleep and skipped today's planned 10 miles.
I think, honestly, I'm riding the edge of being overtrained. I've had some hyper-cortisol symptoms this week, some difficulty sleeping, and some stress going on here at home. I've also been dealing with some inflammatory symptoms -- connective tissue pain, inflamed gums and other things. Even though it was difficult mentally to not complete my planned training today, I know I'm doing the right thing for my body.
This training process has really shown me that I have the mental toughness to set a big goal and follow through with it. It's shown me that I'm able to affect change in my body. I've developed a love for running and made it a part of my life.
I have never been under the impression that chronic cardio is health promoting, but training for the half has really brought that fact home for me. Between my last couple (rather stressful) months at CrossFit and this near-overtraining experience I'm beginning to recognize the ways in which I need to guard my health and wellbeing when I'm trying to... improve my health and wellbeing!
So, as I said above, I've developed a love for running but I will be so glad to be done with training for this race! I've got a few plans I'm considering as 'the next big thing' but nothing's set in stone yet. Possibilities? Taking a couple months to focus on leaning out, or maybe just enjoy hiking and backpacking this summer and looking forward to starting CrossFit in the fall... though, that's a topic all on it's own.
Back to the present. One big training week left and then taper week! Hopefully I can rest up enough over the next couple days to be able to hit it hard (and smart) next week.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
A recipe - Birthday ribs and broccoli slaw
I have been trying to write this post forever. I had time the other night but Blogger was down.
My birthday was a couple weeks ago and instead of going out for dinner, which I have found to be rather hit-or-miss since I've become spoiled with fresh, nutritious paleo food, I wanted to cook up a rack of ribs and make one of my recent side dish favorites.
I found this rib rub recipe from Cosmopolitan Primal Girl but used a slightly different method:
Birthday Ribs
1 rack (pork) baby back or loin back ribs
3 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
ground pepper
Preheat oven to 200 degrees f. Or don't. With the long cooking time, does it really matter? Rinse ribs and pat dry. If there is a sheath of connective tissue on the underside of the ribs, do your best to remove it. Combine all spices and sprinkle over ribs, then use your fingers to pat the spice rub all over the meat. In my opinion the thicker the spices, the better!
Cover a cookie sheet large enough to hold the rack of ribs with foil, then wrap the spice rubbed ribs in foil and seal it up as well as you can. My rack was meaty side down, but I don't know if it really matters.
Place the ribs in the oven and forget about them for 4 to 5 hours. I checked mine at about 4 and a half, flipped them over, and basted the meaty side with some of the cooking juices. By 5 hours, they were falling apart tender so I turned the broiler on and basted them a couple more times to make the spice crust a little crisp.
Cut into 2 or 3 bone sections to serve. Don't they look fabulous?
Broccoli slaw with avocados and blueberries
I don't know what it is about this combination but I can't get enough of it. I've been making broccoli slaw this way for months now and it seems like I never get sick of eating it.
2 12 oz bags of broccoli slaw
3 oz homemade mayo (it tastes great with more, too!)
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 tsp prepared dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
5 drops liquid stevia (optional)
fresh blueberries and diced avocado as desired (I don't add these to the big bowl of slaw)
Place the bags of slaw in a large mixing bowl. Combine all other ingredients and pour over slaw, toss to coat. It has quite a bit of bite at first but will mellow a little bit in the fridge. Add blueberries and diced avocado at serving time.
My birthday was a couple weeks ago and instead of going out for dinner, which I have found to be rather hit-or-miss since I've become spoiled with fresh, nutritious paleo food, I wanted to cook up a rack of ribs and make one of my recent side dish favorites.
 |
| Birthday deliciousness! |
I found this rib rub recipe from Cosmopolitan Primal Girl but used a slightly different method:
Birthday Ribs
1 rack (pork) baby back or loin back ribs
3 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
ground pepper
Preheat oven to 200 degrees f. Or don't. With the long cooking time, does it really matter? Rinse ribs and pat dry. If there is a sheath of connective tissue on the underside of the ribs, do your best to remove it. Combine all spices and sprinkle over ribs, then use your fingers to pat the spice rub all over the meat. In my opinion the thicker the spices, the better!
Cover a cookie sheet large enough to hold the rack of ribs with foil, then wrap the spice rubbed ribs in foil and seal it up as well as you can. My rack was meaty side down, but I don't know if it really matters.
Place the ribs in the oven and forget about them for 4 to 5 hours. I checked mine at about 4 and a half, flipped them over, and basted the meaty side with some of the cooking juices. By 5 hours, they were falling apart tender so I turned the broiler on and basted them a couple more times to make the spice crust a little crisp.
Cut into 2 or 3 bone sections to serve. Don't they look fabulous?
 |
| Meaty and tender |
Broccoli slaw with avocados and blueberries
I don't know what it is about this combination but I can't get enough of it. I've been making broccoli slaw this way for months now and it seems like I never get sick of eating it.
2 12 oz bags of broccoli slaw
3 oz homemade mayo (it tastes great with more, too!)
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 tsp prepared dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
5 drops liquid stevia (optional)
fresh blueberries and diced avocado as desired (I don't add these to the big bowl of slaw)
Place the bags of slaw in a large mixing bowl. Combine all other ingredients and pour over slaw, toss to coat. It has quite a bit of bite at first but will mellow a little bit in the fridge. Add blueberries and diced avocado at serving time.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Randomness
I really need to do better with keeping this blog updated! There have been lots of times I've wanted to write but I've just been short on time to do it.
Last week I took kind of a 'deload' week with my training... I ran 3 days but I did less mileage, and took it pretty easy with the weights, too. This week I'm back to my scheduled workouts. Tonight was a 5 mile run, and after Sunday's squat heavy session (5x5 backsquats and bench press, then 150 squats and 60 pushups), running was very, very difficult. For some reason my DOMS took a couple days to develop, so even though I rested Monday it really hit me today and my quads were stiff and sore. A couple times during my run I had to apply a fair bit of pressure to the muscles with my thumbs to get them to loosen up, along with some stretching.
The other thing I'm kind of having problems with is fueling. I tried a gel (Hammer gel, huckleberry flavor) today about halfway through and I just don't like it. It digests fine, but when I use sugar or carbs during my run I end up with mad carb cravings for the rest of the day, and then I overeat. So far, I'm really liking a little bit of dark chocolate before a run because I get a little sugar, a fair bit of fat, and a little caffeine kick, and I think coconut oil during the run with a little bit of dried fruit works too. I may experiment more with those fuel sources to see if I can make that work on the longer runs. I just have to figure out how to make it a little more portable.
Last Saturday was my birthday and I had a great day! I got a super sweet cookware set from my husband. I have had the same 'cheap' (it was $60 when we bought it, and that was a lot of money at the time!) cookware set for 10 years, since we got together. It was nonstick, came out of the box warped, and has probably been flaking teflon and chemicals into our food for the past couple years.
And this is what I now have... a shiny new 13 piece set of Calphalon tri-ply!
I also decided that instead of going out for dinner (yuck) I would make some slow cooked ribs. They turned out excellent. Recipe to follow!
There are officially 4 training weeks left until the half-marathon, and I'm getting a little nervous. I know I will finish, but I hope I can finish with a semi-respectable time. I think the most nerve wracking part is the heavy training volume over the next few weeks. C'mon body... stay strong!
Last week I took kind of a 'deload' week with my training... I ran 3 days but I did less mileage, and took it pretty easy with the weights, too. This week I'm back to my scheduled workouts. Tonight was a 5 mile run, and after Sunday's squat heavy session (5x5 backsquats and bench press, then 150 squats and 60 pushups), running was very, very difficult. For some reason my DOMS took a couple days to develop, so even though I rested Monday it really hit me today and my quads were stiff and sore. A couple times during my run I had to apply a fair bit of pressure to the muscles with my thumbs to get them to loosen up, along with some stretching.
The other thing I'm kind of having problems with is fueling. I tried a gel (Hammer gel, huckleberry flavor) today about halfway through and I just don't like it. It digests fine, but when I use sugar or carbs during my run I end up with mad carb cravings for the rest of the day, and then I overeat. So far, I'm really liking a little bit of dark chocolate before a run because I get a little sugar, a fair bit of fat, and a little caffeine kick, and I think coconut oil during the run with a little bit of dried fruit works too. I may experiment more with those fuel sources to see if I can make that work on the longer runs. I just have to figure out how to make it a little more portable.
Last Saturday was my birthday and I had a great day! I got a super sweet cookware set from my husband. I have had the same 'cheap' (it was $60 when we bought it, and that was a lot of money at the time!) cookware set for 10 years, since we got together. It was nonstick, came out of the box warped, and has probably been flaking teflon and chemicals into our food for the past couple years.
 |
| This cookware has seen better days! |
I also decided that instead of going out for dinner (yuck) I would make some slow cooked ribs. They turned out excellent. Recipe to follow!
There are officially 4 training weeks left until the half-marathon, and I'm getting a little nervous. I know I will finish, but I hope I can finish with a semi-respectable time. I think the most nerve wracking part is the heavy training volume over the next few weeks. C'mon body... stay strong!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Intuitive eating experiment - FAIL! And sugar IS poison
Well, by the end of day one of my intuitive eating week, I failed and logged my food. I think I've been doing it for so long by now it's just become habit. It's sick. Not sure where I will go next with this, but it's not a huge concern at the moment, just another time waster.
Annndd.... Yesterday and today I ate a few squares of 88% dark chocolate. Today, binge-o-rama. I demolished half a jar of sunflower butter and completely screwed my calorie deficit for the day (and then some!) Obviously my body is unable to handle added sugar of any kind because when I have it, it triggers insane cravings. I seem to do fine with dark chocolate before a run, and I actually find it to be pretty good fuel, but if it's not immediately before a workout then forget it. Like Dr. Lustig says, sugar is poison.
In other, less food related news running is going really well. I struggled a little with hydration and fueling last week on my 7 mile run, but I'm going to pick up a hydration pack and make sure to get that straightened out before I run that far outside again. My body is feeling good and I'm actually enjoying my runs most of the time. When I get my recent stats loaded up I'll post them!
Finally... I acheived a bodyweight deadlift yesterday, woohoo!
Annndd.... Yesterday and today I ate a few squares of 88% dark chocolate. Today, binge-o-rama. I demolished half a jar of sunflower butter and completely screwed my calorie deficit for the day (and then some!) Obviously my body is unable to handle added sugar of any kind because when I have it, it triggers insane cravings. I seem to do fine with dark chocolate before a run, and I actually find it to be pretty good fuel, but if it's not immediately before a workout then forget it. Like Dr. Lustig says, sugar is poison.
In other, less food related news running is going really well. I struggled a little with hydration and fueling last week on my 7 mile run, but I'm going to pick up a hydration pack and make sure to get that straightened out before I run that far outside again. My body is feeling good and I'm actually enjoying my runs most of the time. When I get my recent stats loaded up I'll post them!
Finally... I acheived a bodyweight deadlift yesterday, woohoo!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Experiment
I just wanted to drop in and make a quick post... I think I'm going to do an experiment this week.
Since I had a fair bit of success eating more intuitively while we were on vacation, I'm going to just leap in and do it this week. I'll still log everything I eat and may even weigh stuff, but I'm not going to calculate macros.
I'm nervous, but we'll see how it goes!
Since I had a fair bit of success eating more intuitively while we were on vacation, I'm going to just leap in and do it this week. I'll still log everything I eat and may even weigh stuff, but I'm not going to calculate macros.
I'm nervous, but we'll see how it goes!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Hot off the presses.... new meal plan!
Just completed this week's meal plan:
Braised short ribs and onions
Carrots
Salad
Broccoli and cauliflower/roasted cauli
Salad
Slow cooker braised flank steak, peppers, onions (saw this in Womans Day, of all places! Thought it was worth a try)
Garlic green beans
Salad
Leftover short ribs and chicken
Carrots
Salad
Leftover flank steak
Broccoli
Salad
Tangine pork tenderloin (been loving this spice rub from Jen's Gone Paleo!)
Green beans
Salad
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Playing catch up
I hate to be one of those bloggers that says, "Oh, sorry I haven't posted in a long time..." But, sorry I haven't posted in a long time.
I have still been running, still been keeping paleo, and am feeling pretty great! Here are some quick stats from recent runs. It seems I've been doing some pretty shoddy record keeping, but here's what I have:
3/22
3.5 mi run
Time: 55:57
Avg HR: 141
Max HR: 168
3/23
3x3 press and deadlift
3/24
3.5 mi run
Time: 45:10
Avg HR: 142
Max HR: 168
3/26
5.1 mi run
Time: 1:04:05
Avg HR: 137
Max HR: 164
3/27
3x3 bench press and squat
assitance work (squats and pushups)
clean and jerk skill work
3/28
5 rounds of
50 jump rope
25 kb swings 25#
5 60# c&j
3 pullups
3/29
4 mi run, no other stats
3/30
5,3,1 press and deadlift
3/31
4 mi run, no other stats
4/2
6 mi run plus 1 mile with husband later
Time: 76:03
Forgot hrm at home
4/3
5,3,1 bench and squat
50 sq, 30 plu
5 c&j 55#
40 situps, 40 back extensions
4/4
no workout recorded... can't remember if I rested or not!
4/5
4 mi run
Time: 53:09
Avg HR: 141
Max HR: 180
4/6
3x5 push press (55,60,65) and deadlift (105, 115, 125)
3 rounds of
30 lunges, 10 pullups
c&j - 55#, 60#, 65#
4/7
am 4 mile run
ran fasted, lost stats in my hrm but the run went really well
4/9
on vacation!
6 mi run
Time: 1:20:56
Avg HR: 146
Max HR: 172
4/10
took rest day
4/11
on vacation still!
ran/walked 3 miles, every 1/4 mile did 20 squats, 20 psu for total of 160 each exercise. This was a good workout
4/12
4.5 mi run outside, felt great
Strength training wise, I've been keeping with Wendler's 5/3/1 program up until this last week where I decided to switch to mostly bodyweight exercises. I was getting a little bored with the program, but the main reason I switched it up was because we were out of town this last weekend. I am not sure if I want to go back to 5/3/1 at this point or if I want to work on some other stuff at this point, but I better figure it out soon since I have a strength workout scheduled tomorrow.
Twice in the last week or so I've experimented with some different pre-run fueling. I did one fasted morning run, which actually went really well surprisingly, and two runs after eating a small dark chocolate bar. I figured, the dark chocolate (Dagoba 87% is what I've used because the small bar is the perfect size) is high in fat and has a little bit of carbs. Since I'm primarily trying to run using fat as fuel I though this might work out well. It's also nice that dark chocolate has a little bit of caffeine. I may experiment with this some more.
On our vacation I had the privilege to be in charge of most of the meals for myself, my husband, and my father in law. I was also able to share some information with my father-in-law about the paleo diet, and it was awesome to actually have someone willing to listen, and maybe even a little bit interested! The other thing that happened was that I ended up losing a couple pounds on vacation, weighing in this morning at 154.4, which is the lowest I've been in over a month. Overall, I think we all ended up coming home feeling pretty good instead of run-down from eating a bunch of crappy food. Well, my husband had a little too much sugar, but I think he knew what he was getting himself into.
My training schedule really starts ramping up now until race day, adding an additional mile every week. Depending on how I feel, I may back off a little one of those weeks. With the exception of some hip pain during our vacation I'm feeling strong and injury free. I think the hip pain was due to sitting a lot during travel... Monday we spent 9 hours in the car! Hopefully it will stay away from now on.
For those interested, I photo blogged just about every morsel I ate while we were gone, it's all over at my food blog. I did succumb to a piece and a half of salt water taffy while we were gone. It was good, but I know I feel better without it and I have to say I enjoyed the smoked salmon a lot more!
I have still been running, still been keeping paleo, and am feeling pretty great! Here are some quick stats from recent runs. It seems I've been doing some pretty shoddy record keeping, but here's what I have:
3/22
3.5 mi run
Time: 55:57
Avg HR: 141
Max HR: 168
3/23
3x3 press and deadlift
3/24
3.5 mi run
Time: 45:10
Avg HR: 142
Max HR: 168
3/26
5.1 mi run
Time: 1:04:05
Avg HR: 137
Max HR: 164
3/27
3x3 bench press and squat
assitance work (squats and pushups)
clean and jerk skill work
3/28
5 rounds of
50 jump rope
25 kb swings 25#
5 60# c&j
3 pullups
3/29
4 mi run, no other stats
3/30
5,3,1 press and deadlift
3/31
4 mi run, no other stats
4/2
6 mi run plus 1 mile with husband later
Time: 76:03
Forgot hrm at home
4/3
5,3,1 bench and squat
50 sq, 30 plu
5 c&j 55#
40 situps, 40 back extensions
4/4
no workout recorded... can't remember if I rested or not!
4/5
4 mi run
Time: 53:09
Avg HR: 141
Max HR: 180
4/6
3x5 push press (55,60,65) and deadlift (105, 115, 125)
3 rounds of
30 lunges, 10 pullups
c&j - 55#, 60#, 65#
4/7
am 4 mile run
ran fasted, lost stats in my hrm but the run went really well
4/9
on vacation!
6 mi run
Time: 1:20:56
Avg HR: 146
Max HR: 172
4/10
took rest day
4/11
on vacation still!
ran/walked 3 miles, every 1/4 mile did 20 squats, 20 psu for total of 160 each exercise. This was a good workout
4/12
4.5 mi run outside, felt great
Strength training wise, I've been keeping with Wendler's 5/3/1 program up until this last week where I decided to switch to mostly bodyweight exercises. I was getting a little bored with the program, but the main reason I switched it up was because we were out of town this last weekend. I am not sure if I want to go back to 5/3/1 at this point or if I want to work on some other stuff at this point, but I better figure it out soon since I have a strength workout scheduled tomorrow.
Twice in the last week or so I've experimented with some different pre-run fueling. I did one fasted morning run, which actually went really well surprisingly, and two runs after eating a small dark chocolate bar. I figured, the dark chocolate (Dagoba 87% is what I've used because the small bar is the perfect size) is high in fat and has a little bit of carbs. Since I'm primarily trying to run using fat as fuel I though this might work out well. It's also nice that dark chocolate has a little bit of caffeine. I may experiment with this some more.
On our vacation I had the privilege to be in charge of most of the meals for myself, my husband, and my father in law. I was also able to share some information with my father-in-law about the paleo diet, and it was awesome to actually have someone willing to listen, and maybe even a little bit interested! The other thing that happened was that I ended up losing a couple pounds on vacation, weighing in this morning at 154.4, which is the lowest I've been in over a month. Overall, I think we all ended up coming home feeling pretty good instead of run-down from eating a bunch of crappy food. Well, my husband had a little too much sugar, but I think he knew what he was getting himself into.
My training schedule really starts ramping up now until race day, adding an additional mile every week. Depending on how I feel, I may back off a little one of those weeks. With the exception of some hip pain during our vacation I'm feeling strong and injury free. I think the hip pain was due to sitting a lot during travel... Monday we spent 9 hours in the car! Hopefully it will stay away from now on.
For those interested, I photo blogged just about every morsel I ate while we were gone, it's all over at my food blog. I did succumb to a piece and a half of salt water taffy while we were gone. It was good, but I know I feel better without it and I have to say I enjoyed the smoked salmon a lot more!
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