Good deal

I just signed up for the Decker 1/2 marathon.  $27 and change (with my ARC discount).  I challenge you to find a better deal in the Austin area!  Plus they always have those great long sleeve tech shirts and I believe this year they are giving out medals.  I'll be doing that while y'all are doing CALI.

On a roll

Notched another good workout this week.  Good for confidence building.  Did a 8 mile progressive run today.  Started at 9min/miles and worked our way up to just faster than HMGP.  Nailed it - we were a bit fast on the miles near the end but that was the reward for being patient at the start.

Details - 8 miles 1:04:01 8:00average

M1 8:53

M2 8:42

M3 8:22

M4 8:14

M5 7:53

M6 7:38

M7 7:16

M8 7:02

Legs felt good.  We knew we were fast on the last mile but kept thinking the slight up hill on Greenlawn would slow us down.  Nope!

Running Injury

Poor Silver dog seems to have gotten her first running injury.  One of her front paws is quite swollen and she is favoring it.  I'll have to look at taking her to the vet this week to have it checked out.  She is good and tired tonight after her run this afternoon which is a very good thing.

Hopefully her injury is minor because I don't think she'll be happy if she has to miss too many runs!

A different venue

On my easy runs I pretty much do the same out and back...over and over and over.  Mostly because it is convenient.  Today I took the time to do something different and it was well worth it.  I took Silver dog and we did 6 very easy miles at Decker Lake.  It was a good change to run on the grass and Silver enjoyed some water time as well.  The best thing about the loop at Decker Lake is that includes the long climb alongside 973 that we are all familiar with from the Decker race.

Smooth...

Today we did 400m MGP and 10K pace alternating back and forth every 400m for 4 miles. After last weeks distaster on Tuesday I was a little nervous. However I am good at this kind of workout because it doesn't involve stopping. Jason and I rocked it - -were slightly fast on every lap and flying on the last 10K lap. Thanks Jason for keeping track of the laps. I love that workout - just relaxing for me going from one pace to the other. We easily could have done at least another mile but Jason smartly suggested we should stop while we were ahead. We averaged 7 min miles for the 4 miles. It felt easy. No struggling or fighting to maintain pace at all.
Details:
Per calculator MGP lap should be 1:54, 10K 1:43
1:52
1:43
1:52
1:45
1:52
1:46
1:52
1:42
1:50
1:39
1:53
1:40
1:50
1:38
1:49
1:34
I changed a couple things in the last week. I have started an aggressive ankle flexibility routine and using the TP massage set up regularily. My left ankle felt more supple and functioned normally tonight. We also did some drills tonight - I think that helped loosen me up.
After the workout we headed off for happy hour - that was fun and gave me a chance to get to know some Team people I might not have talked to a ton otherwise.
Fabulous weather!!

Glorious marathon weather

Today was the Performance Projects first 20 miler.  It was an easy course - out and back on the last 10 miles of the Austin Marathon but I like the course so there were no complaints from me.  Chilly at the start - my arms and hands were actually a little cold - I wore a shirt!  We started at 6am with the San Antonio, Dallas, New York crowd and the Team and PP folks were quickly off the front.  I ran by my self.  I have found that as the longer distances become more managable, I prefer to run on my own.  I don't get sucked into stupid stuff and I can focus on what I am doing and how I feel.  Easy first mile and then I got up to my long run pace.  Plan today was easy out and back with a fast finish.   As we are running up Congress, they are getting set up for the Live Strong 5K.  Not sure how that will impact the way back.  They were closing UT down as we ran past the stadium - yeah - that means traffic free roads on the way back.  A few of the side roads between Duval and red River were freaking pitch black - I was extra careful.  Cruised all the way to Northcross Mall - uneventful - I'm just feeling good and enjoying this absolutely, off the charts perfect weather.  Turned around at Northcross Mall and now am on the marathon course.  Felt great on the slight down hills - smooth - I didn't worry about pace - it was all about effort.  Still on my own.  As we got back to the Intermural fields, we caught the AT&T 7 am group.  A lot of them turned around at that point.  I found their inane chatter annoying.  I can see how that would annoy people who were sleeping - it was really annoying me.  Left most of them behind on 46th and focused on maintaining rythym and form on the slight up hill to Red River.  Did not lose pace as I have in the past.  Still feeling really strong.  Reminded myself to hold back until UT.  As I turned on to 41st street across from Hancock Center - I remember thinking last year how the Austin Marathon was in the bag - a done deal and that it was time to haul butt.  Once back at UT, I picked up the pace to MGP.  That's not a super fast finish but for me it's a safe fast finish.  There was a lot of foot traffic and redlights to negotiate and I didn't want to have a wreck because my brain was tired.  Maintained pace up San Jac and down 11th - turned onto Congress - now I'm going backwards on the LiveStrong course - I ran through the finish backwards and cruised past the people walking to the finish - this whole section from UT until 6th street was closed to traffic - yay!!  Kept going along 4th over to Rogue and even managed 5 strides at the end.

Did I mention the amazing weather?  It was freaking perfect.  I felt great even though my left ankle is just plain stiff and I can't seem to loosen it up.  I can remember when 20 miles was a momentous occasion.  Not now, it's just another opportunity to get out and enjoy running.

Hope everyone else had a great day too!!

Kick butt dog

So today we had an 8 mile medium long run scheduled.  I had to do the morning run due to an evening conflict.  I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning.  Not Silver dog - she could barely wait for us to get in the car.  Picture on the left is Silver working out during the summer!

Since it was quite cool this morning, I decided Silver could come along.  I'm really not into waiting for her when she decides she is tired.  Silver rocked the 8 mile run...she did lag a little at the end but not badly at all and after a drink and relaxing for a few minutes she wanted to go with the guys doing one more lap.  She loved all the attention she got at the end of the run.

Her reward for being so good was a trip to the vet for her annual vaccinations.  Usually she is a nervous wreck and pees on the floor.  Not this year.  You see, Silver has been on a self improvement project - no more cat food, no more eating food off the counter and getting more exercise.  Recently she is averaging 10+ miles of running a week.  So she hops on the scale...just a little nervous because we don't know how much weight she has lost since last year when she was a tubby 60 pounds.  This year - 49.9 pounds - woo, hoo!!!  The vet is blown away and impressed at how good she looks.  Silver celebrated with a handful of dog treats.  The vet is also impressed with the level of flexibility she has in her hind legs - Silver is 8 and it seems everyone thinks that is old.  Not Silver - the vet thinks she will live a really long time.  Only glitch in the appt was that she had a cracked tooth from biting a rock or something and has to get it pulled.

I'm excited for Silver and me because she is the best running partner.  Once it gets a little cooler, I'll take her on some trail runs for my Wednesday and Sunday runs.

All in all a great day - I felt good on the run too.

Dead Legs

Crap...my legs were just dead for the CV workout tonight. Actually my legs feel dead just sitting in my chair at work. No soreness anywhere - just no get up and go. We did our 4 x 2000m on the road with a lovely uphill for the last 600m. I had trouble even making my pace on the flat and downhill parts. The effort felt way too hard. I will attribute this to 3 hard workouts last week with no relaxing long run. I am pretty much eating as much as I want now and still losing about 1/2 pound per week so I may just have to eat a little more quality carbs and protein. Thankfully we have a recovery run tomorrow, a hilly but nice 8 miler on Thurs AM and then 20 miles on Sat. I can handle that cuz it's not fast. Was planning to do the 10 mile race coming up but will need to talk to Karen about adjusting my workouts before so I have a better recovery. Have a ART session tomorrow and will try to fit an ice bath in.
I'm also participating in the Bio Marker study and will be interested to find out a little more tomorrow when I go for my first blood draw tomorrow.

Olympic Qualifying Time

I ran a super easy 5 miles with Silver dog. As always she raced around like crazy for the first mile and then trotted along behind me for the rest of the way. As we hit mile 2 I asked her if she was up for 5 miles today and although she was panting hard, she was right there looking like she had dreamed about running all day. At Mile 4.5, she had enough left to chase a cat and have a minor altercation with the cat owner's dogs. It was a really slow run but after the first mile where my left foot was complaining quite a bit, I felt good.

So I get home and am reading blogs and entering my run on Breakingthetape.com and I check my Parrot Predictor time. Strangely, it says 2:37:8. I'll be curious to see if it corrects it's self by tomorrow. For now, I can see I'm in shape to qualify for the next Olympic Trials...woo,hoo!! I'll live that dream until the bubble is burst and it corrects it's self and goes back to the 3:30 range!

Congrats to all the Team runners who kicked IBM's butt!!

5K of fun in Hutto

Since most everyone in PP and Team were doing the IBM 10K and I had forbidden myself from doing it to avoid getting sucked into the Distance Challenge, I ran a "fun run" in Hutto instead.  My plan was to run 8-10 miles before the 5K, do the race and then a short cool down.   Here is a summery of how it went:

The Good - perfect weather, flat course, very friendly race crew, helpful police officer, friendly racers, did not run a PR, the cutest orange paw prints on the road to mark the way.  Got first in my age group after passing most of the Hutto cross country team in mile 2.

The Bad - got my butt whipped by a 10yr old in the open female division.   Poorly manned water stations that had styrofoam cups.  I took out almost a whole line of cups grabbing water on the fly - otherwise the volunteers were great.

The Ugly - obviously I can't run "slow" in a 5K.  My plan had been to run 1 mile MGP, 1 mile HMGP and 1 mile 10K+.  At mile 1 my time was 6:50 some.  So since I was relaxed, I just maintained pace and averaged about 10K pace the whole way.  I thought I had lost my valet key that was in my skirt pocket, the friendly police officer attempted to open my car door and after not succeeding, went over to the driver's side and found my key in the door (duh!!!).

It was an easy and fun way to get 12 miles in.  I would highly recommend the race for beginners and PR seekers.  However...it is not chip timed and I suspect it is not certified.  Per my garmen though it was accurately measured.

What I love about being a runner

I love being able to tell the lady at the bookstore, who asks if I run everyday, "yes pretty much so".  Then when she says "I tried and I just couldn't...I wish I could".  I told her yes you can!  I asked what was going wrong and she told me she couldn't run a 1/4 mile.  I told her to walk and when she felt ready, to run for 30 seconds and just to slowly increase the amount of running and decrease the amount of walking.  That's what I did.  Took me from March 2006  until June 2006 to be able to run 5 miles.  Nine months later I started a marathon, finished it and qualified for Boston.  I love encouraging people at work and sharing tips.  I love giving the APD officer whose butt I kicked at AT&T this year a hard time because I know next year he will try harder.  I practically have a running advice clinic going at work and it works...quite a few people who might not have done so, have taken up a healthier diet and some form of exercise.  They come to me with questions all the time.  Am I an expert - heck no, but I've been there and I can tell them how great it is after you stick with it a few years and it just seems so much easier.

So to Geezer, who is having a hard time with injuries and his attitude I say "yes you can".  Are you going to run a PR - probably not.  Are you gonna run sub 3?  NO!  Does it matter - NO!  Go to CALI and have a fun time, jog - walk - do what ever it takes to cross the finish.  Then regroup and put together a plan for Boston.

Ahhhhh....cooler weather!

What a difference 20 degrees makes.  It's still a little humid but our workout tonight was perfect.  Sunny, no wind and 69 degrees.  Can't beat that.  We did the same workout as the Team people so, it was great to have people to run with.  Nice easy 2 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo and 2 mile cool down.  We ran the tempo a little fast but I felt strong the whole way.  The first mile was the slowest but after that the miles were very consistant.  

I had a very laid back day.  Got up to take the cat to the vet only to find out her appt is Friday.  Quick ride on a very muddy horse and then he had his shots.  I was beat - I slept badly on Wed. night so I just lounged around today - a little laundry, watched TV and took a nap.  Can't complain about that.  Hopefully I will sleep tonight.  Broke my diet rules and treated myself to ice cream tonight.  No biggie...I've been pretty good lately and just felt like having some.

I'll sum this all up by saying my workout was by far my most solid performance so far.  I nailed it!!

Rain,rain,rain

I slept in and got down to the barn and Riley ridden just before it started pouring.  Spent the rest of the day running errands and then ran an easy 5 miles with Silver dog.  She still hasn't grasped the concept of conserving energy but enjoyed the run regardless.

Tomorrow starts vet appt month.   Meesha (cat) and Riley get the shots tomorrow and Silver gets hers next week.  To complicate manners,  Meesha needs to be sedated to get her vaccinations (she is like a pissed off tiger at the vet).  Also either Silver or Meesha peed on the floor 2 nights this week (thank god I have no carpet) and I honestly have no idea which one did.  The volume of pee on the kitchen floor might prove the dog guilty but the spot by the chair in the living room makes me think the cat did it.  Whoever did it peed on, part of my TP massage kit, my lunch bag, my purse and my bag I carry my post run clothes in.  So, my plan is to get urine samples from the dog and cat and see who has the urinary tract infection.  That has been the culprit in the past when this happened before.  What I really need is a closed circuit camera!!

I have a plan for my own mini Soul Buster this weekend.  Since we are on our own Saturday and I am not doing IBM 10K, I came up with my own form of entertainment for the weekend.  I will blog about it on Saturday!

Dumb and dumber

My whole day was off kilter because of 2 work related meetings that were held after I finished my usual night shift.  I am also on call for court all week.  So far no one has called.  I decided last week when these meetings were called that I would not go to work tonight.  I ended up having about 5 hours sleep today - not bad but my eating schedule was messed up too.  We had a track workout today - I won't bore you with the details but I did OK considering I did not read the workout instructions properly and took 200m recoveries instead of 400m.   To make the whole situation more ridiculous, I had the workout written down in a baggie and carried it with me the whole time.  Needless to say the workout was tough and I was a bit slow on a few intervals.  Oh well...hopefully I'll get one workout right before the marathon.  I'm thankful for the extra nights sleep tonight.

Not Running Related

Totally not running related but important to me.  Today marks a year since I had to put my wonderful horse Taylor to sleep.  Despite all of the physical things wrong with him, he had so much try and heart.  We can all learn as runners that even when things don't look so great out there, you can still put in a tough effort.  

I learned a tremendous amount from this horse...not only as it applied to horsemanship but life too.  He was a beloved pet and an exceptional athlete.  

Remembering him makes me thankful for my dog, cat and other horse and all the great friends I have in the running community.

Have a happy day everyone!

Body abuse

So after the 18 miler yesterday, I drove to Houston. This was to attend the wedding of a friend I met in my first beginner group with Rogue 2006. We will be going to Boston together in the spring. She is Alix - some of you know her by the extensive tatooing she has. I wondered how that was going to look with a wedding dress but it looked great.
The ceremony was short and sweet and really classy. There was an open bar which I chose to avoid as a)I don't want a DWI and b) I don't drink much and it generally makes me feel like hell. The food was tasty even though it was all high fat and high salt. Tried not to eat too much. I met to college friends of hers who were a ton of fun and just maybe Alix and I will take a trip next summer and do the Park City Marathon as a training run since one of the girls lives there. I left at 11pm as I was dead tired and had only 4 hours sleep on Friday night. Slept like a rock and in the AM decided to blow off my run in Memorial Park and just drive home. Stopped at Panera Bread and had an unhealthy but delicious breakfast sandwich and a cookie. Once home I crashed and slept for 3 hours after which I contimplated blowing off the 4 mile run and doing it Monday. Read everyone's blogs from the Soul Buster, got motivated and headed off for my run. I took the dog, telling her that she might want to conserve her energy as we were running my pace not her's and as she was racing around, set off. Just ran an easy 4 but it felt great. My legs were not bothering me at all and I ran my usual pace. The dog was dragging at mile 3. Had a salad and salmon for dinner and here I am at work. So far no action...let's hope it stays that way.

Surprise Hills!

I had no idea todays version of Runtex to Rogue included Redbud and Stratford.  I hydrated and ate well yesterday, slept like crap and hopped out of bed just before 4am.  My plan was to start a little easier this week and finish strong.  This all hinged on me thinking it was down to the track from Gateway - no hills.  I left my earphones at home since there would be a large group of runners out today.  Met Chris at Austin High and headed up to Gateway.  Started off with a large group but quickly let most of them go as they were running a bit quick.  Took about 5-6 miles to settle in but them I felt just great.  Ran with Jason who ran really well today.  He left me behind on Redbud and I didn't catch him until coming back around the soccer fields.   Finished with a strong last mile and while my legs were tired at the end, they didn't feel as bad as last week.  Last mile was about a minute faster than the first and we averaged 8:23min/mile.  It was a treat to do strides on the football field - felt great.  Had to dodge a ton of doggie -do.  Then we watched and cheered as the Team folks gutted out a tough 10K on the track (after 18-20 miles).  They all looked good.  Standing out there handing out water was freezing.  Chris, Steven and I drove over to Barton Springs and had a relaxing soak.  

Right now I'm fixin' to have a nice hot shower and a power nap and then head over to Houston.  Just what I need, a 3 hr drive!!

What not to do before and after a marathon

After reading Mike's post, I just had to share this story.  This is the story of an officer that works for the jail.  At the time he ran his one and only marathon, he was working night shift in Central Booking.  I'm quite sure he was inadequately trained.  He was unable to get the nights off work before and after the marathon.  

So he works from 10pm until 6 am Saturday night.  Drives like a mad man to the start of what was then the Motorola Marathon, runs the marathon in 4hrs and some, goes home and gets some sleep.  Gets up and comes back to work at 10pm.  Had a job that night that involved sitting down all night - I think the supervisor felt bad for him at this point and thought if the officer could sit down all night it would help him.  The officer sat in the chair for 8 hours, maybe getting up once or twice.  By the end of the shift, he was so stiff and sore, he had to be helped from his chair out to his car.  He has quit running but still brings his Motorola Marathan backpack to work everyday!

That would suck.  The most I have done after being up all night was 21 miles but it was a long run and not as intense as the marathon...I was OK that night after the run.

Nickel and diming

So I just signed up for Boston - quick and straight forward - no one was trying to get more of my money than the entry.  Then I signed up for Austin - NO training group discount and they tried to sell me an event poster for $20 and added $8+ for a service fee.   The poster is free at Boston and you can have as many as you like.

Head Lamp Review

On Mike's advise, I got a Petzl head lamp.  It's a basic model - no bells or whistles (the Tikka model) but it was on sale at REI and that counted for a lot!  It worked great.  I was much more relaxed on the run because I could see the route directions, the street signs and the road.  Also I was now visible to traffic and bikes.  Ran 10 mile medium long run today.  Still could feel a little tightness in my legs but overall it was a very good run.

Did a 10lb ice bath - really could have used 20lbs but since I was cold...it's a good 10 degrees colder where I live than in Austin...10 lbs seemed about right when I was buying it.  Made some tasty oatmeal pancakes too.

The good thing about running early AM, is that I have the rest of the day ahead of me...house chores, pedicure, nap, ride the horse.  Other than the house stuff, sounds pretty good.

Other good thing this week is that I'm taking Sat night off  workto go to a friend's wedding in Houston.  Plan to do my Sunday easy run in Memorial Park.

Legs feeling the track

I ran 6 miles on the track yesterday - first real track w/o since April.  Wasn't super fast or anything but today is the first day I could feel some weakness and tiredness in my legs as I did my easy run today - it was a big 4 miles and while it was slow, it wasn't awful and each mile was a little faster than the last.  The odd thing was that my legs seemed to want to be kinda close to each other and I couldn't get my calves apart.  Felt it in my upper inner thighs.  Just kinda weak.  Now as well as the track w/o I have been doing some hip strengthening exercises but I've been doing those for a week so I just don't see how that would have appeared today.  Maybe it was the 4 hrs sleep I had today.  I will be crashing early tonight as I am doing the AM run tomorrow.  Mike - I got my head lamp and will be testing it out tomorrow!

Geezer - big news flash!!  I no longer qualify for the fat girl division!!!  Finally am below 140lb...woo,hoo...celebrated witha size small Gelato.  I'm not so sure that's the right way to celebrate but I had a healthy lunch and why not.  My feet are good - Geezer my trick is 10 minutes on a heating pad and then 5-10 min of progressively more aggressive work with the golf ball 1-2 times a day and the night splint.

I'm eating well for our 10 mile run tomorrow - it's a little hilly and I don't want to have a crappy run - hopefully my legs will be back to life tomorrow.

Trouble with pacing ... too fast.

I don't think too many people would complain about being too fast on their workouts if they weren't completely trashed at the end. My complaint is that I need to have a better handle on my paces prior to my race so I don't go too fast at the start. We ran our first track w/o of the season tonight - 1 mile wu then 1 mile MGP/1 mile HMGP/1mile MGP/1 mile HMGP/1 mile MGP/1 mile 15K then 2 laps cd. I also need to work on using my watch more effectively. It took me a while to unscramble my lap times and come up with mile times. I also need to figure out a way to count laps...I ran 5 MGP laps instead of 4 the 2nd time (I just eliminated that lap from my calculations). Karen told the PP to take breaks as we needed and so I took a break for water after the HMGP miles. Perhaps not doing so would have slowed me down. I felt like it was a pretty tough w/o and in retrospect am not surprised I was slow on the 15K mile. I thought I would nail it but obviously my perception of pace is messed up.
My splits -
M1 7:30 should be 7:38
M2 7:03 - 7:14
M3 7:29 - 7:38
M4 7:08 - 7:14
M5 7:27 - 7:38
M6 7:14 - 7:04

Good confidence builder but next time I won't take breaks unless they are specifically worked into the w/o.

Procrastination

Holy crap, can I cut something close.  I became an American citizen sometime since the last federal election.  They gave us a voter registration card which I filed out of my brain.  Never bothered with any of the local elections.  So with all the upheaval in the world, I'm thinking that I had better vote.  I hear ads to get people to vote on the radio and on TV.  It's on the news.  Yesterday morning, all I knew was that I could register at Thundercloud Subs.

So I'm driving to work trying figure out where there is a TCS close to work so I can register...I'm feeling sick and a little worried.  I was feeling like I couldn't live with my self if the wrong candidate won by 1 vote (I know, that's not how it works here, but you get my drift).  Went to TCS on Lavaca, this was at 9pm - the lady said she was getting ready to call it a day.

Whew, got there just in time and registered.  I will sleep better today.  My goal is to go to early voting the FIRST day I can, not the LAST!!!

I chicked a Gazelle

So I was running along 381/2 - not entirely sure I was on the right course and as I pass Shoal Creek Blvd and Seton, this guy crosses over the road and is now running just ahead of me.  As we approached Lamar, I passed him and it was apparent the effort he had put out to stay ahead. He chokes out "are you going to Lake Austin Blvd?".  I'm like, "nope...you must be with the Gazelles".  He replied yes and completely faded.  Never saw him again!

Up, up and away into the dark!

While the team folks slogged out 28 miles today, the PP group ran 16.  Needless  to say we ran the tough part of the 28 miler.  Lot's of hills.  I definately felt my legs at the end but instead of running slower was able to keep up my average pace without a ton of extra effort.

In my mind the highlight of the run was running up Mt Bonnell in the dark along the top and then down the side street to Balcones.  Really cool, really dark.  The low point was dodging traffic along 35th street.  Obviously the drivers don't care about anyone but themselves.  I had to run through some sort of bush to avoid being killed.

My pace was slower this week but the hills would account for that.

Overall 16.05 miles - 2:19:35 - 8:41/mile

1 - 8:43

2 - 8:33 

3 - 8:16

4 - 8:26

5 - 9:05 

6 - 9:34 (Mt Bonnell)

7 - 8:29

8 - 9:29 (35th hill)

9 - 8:17

10 - 8:33

11 - 8:45

12 - 8:30

13 - 8:39

14 - 8:44 (legs getting tired on Red River)

15 - 8:34

16 - 8:33

Overall I'm happy with the run.  Only thing I would do different is eat a little more yesterday - was hungry when I went to bed and go to bed earlier.  I slept terrible on Thursday night so assumed I would sleep terrible last night soooo decided I'd rather watch one extra episode of House than be tossing and turning.  I slept like a rock and the alarm came a little too quickly!   Now time for a shower and nap.

Phenylephrine to the rescue

On my way to our Thurs workout I stopped at CVS and got a box of phenylephrine to reduce my sinus congestion.  Took about 20 min to work.  Midway through the first loop, my nose started to run.  Not bad, just enough to be noticeable.  Headache and sinus pressure was gone.

Felt great on the run...lots of energy.  Did 8 miles in NW hills.  Felt strong the whole way.  Averaged 8:02.  I ran with my Ipod because pretty much everyone ran in the AM.

Splits - 

1 - 8:45 up North Hills

2- 7:59

3- 7:50 down Greystone

4- 8:08 up North Hills

5- 7:48 

6- 7:57 down Greystone (worried about being lost and looking for greystone!)

7- 8:10 up North Hills

8 -7:44 down North Hills

Legs feel great - no soreness at all!!  Woo, hoo!!!  I'm feeling super strong.  Can't wait until it's not 85-90 degrees out for the workouts.

Pre work out meal - 4pm - 2 waffles with jam and 12 oz accelerade

Post work out snack - chocolate milk, 1L NUUN.

Sniff, sniff, sniff

My allergies that I thought were just usual are now rising to an all time new height of horror.  Headache, congested sinus, scratchy throat, muscle aches,cough, sneezing, running nose and eyes.  Last time they were anywhere near this bad I couldn't run effectively for a week.  Tonight's run should be interesting.

Fit Day

Seems like several people have been using Fit Day as a food diary.  So, I thought I'd check it out and see how I was doing on my diet plan by Meredith.  After doing the diary for Oct 1 I noticed I'm about 20gms over my fat allowance, 75gm below my carb allowance and just a few gms low on protein.  I was surprised.  I thought I would be way over on the carbs.  It also has a section for activities and it seemed to accurately calculate calories burned - unlike my Garmin!

While I was in the food mood, I made a recipe I had seen in a magazine recently.  Curried Carrot Spread.  If you like hummus, you'll love this:

Cook 3 cups sliced carrots in a little water until tender 10-12 min.  Saute 3/4 cups onion and 3 chopped cloves of garlic in 2TBsp olive oil.  When the onions are tender add 1Tbsp curry powder and 1tsp cumin (I added more).  Put carrots, onion mixture, 15 oz can of drained/rinsed cannolini beans and 3/4 tsp salt in food processor/blender and process until smooth.  Taste and season to taste.  Chill at least 4 hrs and enjoy.  2Tbsp=40 cal/1gm fat.  It's good on a sandwich or with crackers or veggies.  Will last in fridge for 3 days.

Before you beat me down, I know I should have included a picture - I'll see about that tomorrow.

Great run today.  Averaged 8:27 for 6 miles.  Plan is to never be above 8:40 for long runs or easy runs unless I am dead then any pace will do for the easy runs!

While the air quality is horrific...my allergies are really annoying, I'm still loving this weather.