Summertime!

Summer's finally here (almost)! How can I tell? At 9 pm, it's still bright outside. I live for these long days!

You know what else screams "summer" to me? Ice cream. The other half recently introduced me to Coconut Bliss ice cream. Coconut milk-based, minimal ingredients, maximal flavor. Despite the fact that I seem to be unable to put have trouble putting the pint back in the freezer once I take it out, I highly recommend it! To be honest though, soft serve is more my thing. Back to Eden (the absolutely wonderful vegan, gluten-free bakery I finally tried about two weeks ago) apparently has soft-serve, dairy-free ice cream, and so I may have to go back there and get some to celebrate the official start of summer.

Another summer delight: mojitos. Fortunately, rum is distilled from sugarcane (and not grain), so I can still enjoy those. Unlike my former friend, the vodka-soda with lemon.

In all seriousness though, after two weeks of minimal gluten and dairy, my stomach seems to have dropped the swords of revenge. Maybe not 100% (my GI system seemed to retaliate a bit after drinking gin, and I later learned that gin is also distilled from grain), but compared to how it felt the week before Newport, I'll take that.

I'm still being mindful of my caffeine intake, and my energy levels have still been pretty consistent. I kid you not, I wake up after about 5 hours of sleep, only have 1 (sometimes 2) cup of coffee, and can still last about 18 hours. It's crazy! Maybe there is something to that extra iron dose (and pairing it with vitamin C, while limiting my coffee and wine consumption).

So now let's switch from food to training. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm already 2+ weeks into my multi-marathon training plan. All of the workouts have been either recovery runs or general aerobic (GA) runs, so it feels more like funning at times. But the "fun" is what keeps us coming back for more. Am I right or am I right?

To force myself to do ancillary work, I wrote it into my multi-marathon plan. After 1 week of testing that trick (because week 1 of this plan was simply recovering from Newport), I think it's working. A brief recap of weeks 1 and 2 of workouts.

Week 1 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / 4.43 mi of cycling in 20 min
Tues - Rest or 5 mi / rest
Wed - Recovery 5 mi / 5.16 mi at 7:41/mi
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Recovery 5 mi / 5.06 mi at 7:36/mi
Sat - Recovery 5 mi / 7.19 mi at 7:40/mi
Sun - Recovery 7 mi / 5.13 mi at 7:40/mi + foam rolling
Total - 22-27 mi / 22.54 mi running + 4.43 mi cycling

Week 2 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / rest
Tues - Standard warm-up, recovery 6 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / Standard warm-up, 6.24 mi at 7:45/mi, 2 x 1' standard core
Wed - DS routine, recovery 5 mi, IT Band rehab routine / DS routine, 5.01 mi at 7:40/mi, IT Band rehab routine
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Standard warm-up, GA 7 mi + 8 x 100m strides, strength workout / Standard warm-up, 7.07 mi at 7:34/mi, 2 rounds of 10x10 RYBQ strength routine
Sat - Standard warm-up, recovery 5 mi, DS routine / Standard warm-up, 5.06 mi at 7:40/mi, DS routine
Sun - Standard warm-up, GA 10 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / rest (unless walking around all day in honor of PDX Pride counts)
Total - 33 mi / 23.38 mi

How's your training going? What do you think of the briefer recaps?

Where's My Head?

Who pauses their Garmin while stuck at a stoplight, and then realizes after about half a mile that they forgot to restart it?

That's right...ME!

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm a bit absent-minded. (Now if only I were a professor as well -- then I could have some money in my pocket for race fees.)

I went for a 5M run this evening (taking advantage of the later daylight hours), and paused my Garmin while I was waiting on the Broadway Bridge for the light to change. It changed, and I ran. I looked at my Garmin about 10 blocks later and thought, "That's odd...I should be further along than this." I then looked at the timer and realized that it wasn't ticking. I unpaused it and kept running, because I'd have been damned if that Garmin didn't read at least 5M by the end of that run.

Clearly, the end of the quarter stress has caught up with me.

Onto happier things. Remember my IT Band pain? Well, for the last 9 days, I haven't noticed it. I'm not sure if it's the dynamic warmups, the IT Band Rehab, and/or the fact that I stopped taking glucosamine & chondroitin, but whatever it is seems to be helping. I'm hoping it went away for good, and didn't simply take an epic Spring Break trip without me. Regardless, Eugene's in 46 days, so I can't afford to take any chances. Thus, I better keep doing the dynamic warmups and the IT Band Rehab, and stay away from the glucosamine pills too. Of course, all of my runs in that time period have been 9M or less, so I don't know if this applies to longer runs. Stay tuned.

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Friday Five, Part Deux!

This week has been so busy, I actually had no idea what day it was. I needed my computer calendar to confirm whether it was Monday or Tuesday. No joke. But now that Friday is here, I can give you another dose of Friday Five! This week's topic...

Favorite Things to Eat After a Run
(in no particular order)

1. Bananas!

Source

Who are we kidding? I love bananas at any time. During my sophomore year of college, my roommate equally loved bananas, and we became notorious for taking some from the dining hall after we finished eating. At one point, we had about 8 bananas sitting on our microwave (and a couple apples -- needed a colorful pile now!). But I digress.

Bananas are easy to open, easy to eat, and as long as they're not too ripe, you can throw them in your bag without worrying about them getting smashed. And as we know, they're full of potassium, which your muscles need after any workout.

2. Egg and cheese sandwich

Source

You have your protein and your carbohydrates in one sandwich. If you're like me, the last thing you want to do when you're starving after a run is complex cooking. But this is one of those things that will probably take you about 5 minutes to make. Or you can stop at your local bodega/corner store/whatever they call them in your neck of the woods and get one. But once you realize how easy it is to make, you may not want to ever buy the bodega version again.

3. Protein smoothie

(From my collection)

Essentially, you just throw fruit, liquid (and/or Greek yogurt), and protein powder into a blender and mix everything together. You can also add nuts or nut butter, spices, flaxseed, etc. They're so customizable that it's hard to get bored with them! You can prepare one ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator until you're ready for it. Another great protein and carb (and healthy fats, if you choose to add nuts or flaxseed) combo.

4. Coffee

(From my collection)

This is on here for no other reason than that I love coffee (iced or hot; I don't discriminate). I will admit that this is probably one of the worst things to consume after a workout, because caffeine dehydrates you. So have some water/sports drink first. Now I need to concoct a good coffee protein smoothie.

5. Mimosas

Source

After a good run, reward yourself. Have a drink with your breakfast, brunch, or drunch (whatever you choose to call it). Yes, the orange juice has carbs, but I'm sure the benefits of those carbs are negated by the alcohol. Be careful -- one can easily lead to two, and before you know it, you've lost count of how many you've actually had. (Not that I speak from experience or anything. *coughbirthdaydrunchcough*) But consume in moderation, and you'll be fine. (Note: alcohol, like coffee, dehydrates, so make sure you have water/sports drink beforehand.)

The Training

It's been a good week for training. Ran Tues, Wed, and Thurs, and also did some core work yesterday. After hearing so much about the benefits of a dynamic warmup, I finally decided to put it to the test on Tuesday. And I felt so limber during my run! The best part is that I haven't had as much knee pain while running. 

Rest day today, followed by a long run tomorrow. Now off to enjoy my day of rest! (And by enjoy, I mean tackle my to-do list and gear up for tomorrow.)