Post Race Recovery

The day after my half marathon I was sore. My legs could hardly function and I may or may not have been that person who took the elevator 2 floors. I went for a long walk followed by some intense rolling on the foam roller, and by the next day, my legs felt great. Sweet! Time to run again. About 5 minutes in, my legs were screaming and my knees felt like they were going to give out. I accepted reality, realizing that I am not super-human and do actually need to take rest days. A few days of walking, rolling, and yoga and my legs are feeling great. Lesson learned, take a rest day!

Here is a good post run yoga routine over at Runners World

Race Recap: My First Half-Marathon

Yesterday morning I woke ready for my first half-marathon, The Police Half-Marathon, and I looked out the window and saw this:

Look familiar? It should because that's what I woke up to for my 10 km the other weekend. Lets clear things up, the snow did melt right after the 10km and for 2 weeks the weather was looking quite nice (well sort of). But no, the weather gods knew I had a race coming up, so they unleashed the white fluffy stuff just in time. So that's 2 races down, 2 snowy days. Is dry pavement really that big of a pipe dream?

Anyway, I bundled up, sucked it up and head out to the race. My final time was 1:55:50 and I'm damn proud of it. When I was training I actually went faster, but in the thick snow, I was just happy to break 2 hours. It really slows you down (not to mention numerous people fell during the race)

Here are a few things I learned after completing the race:

- Show up early to find parking. Don't cut it to 5 min before the start of the race.

- Running in snow sucks. Ice is worse. And slush just kills me. Lucky for me, I got all three.

- Music for racing. Podcasts for training.
-Bagpipes and a cheering crowd at the top of a steep hill are very motivating.

- At about the 1 mile left point, I decided that I will never run a marathon (ok I'm 90% sure). I give props to all those out there who have done one.

- For a few hours afterwards, I will likely make grunting noises every time I have to use my legs.
-There are a lot of fast people out there. 353 people finished ahead of me.
- Bill can run faster than all of the cops (that were in the race). The race was put on my the police force and several members ran the race. Not that Bill needs to outrun the cops.

I do plan to do another half. I'm now addicted. But I will definitely plan it for later in the year so I can run on dry pavement!

What We Ate: week of April 11

I thought I'd try something new here and show what we ate for dinner the past week. It can be hard to stay motivated to make dinner once you get home from a long day, so hopefully these posts can serve as a bit of inspiration.

Here is what we had on the menu for last week:

Steak Salad and Asparagus

Directions:

Turn on broiler. Toss 8-10 Asparagus spears in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on grill pan and put under broiler for about 4-5 minutes. Check periodically to avoid overcooking.

Grill 1 flank steak for 3- 4 minutes per side on medium heat on the griddle. Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash BBQ seasoning and slice lengthwise.

In a salad bowl, add desired amount of lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and steak.

Dressing: 2 tbsps balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/8 tsp white sugar, 1/8 tsp dry mustard powder, and half a clove of garlic.

Chicken with Chili-Almond Sauce

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, add 1/4 cup milk, 1 tsp Almond Butter, 10 Almonds, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 sliced jalapeno. Simmer on medium heat for 5 min. Remove from heat and puree in a blender.

Preheat 1 tbsp olive oil in a sauce pan. Add 2 chicken breasts. Cook through, about 10 minutes per side. Pour pureed Almond sauce over chicken and heat though.

Steak and Yams

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel and slice 1 medium yam. Toss in 1 tbsp olive oil and bake for 30-40 minutes (until cooked though)

Grill 2 NY steaks on the BBQ for 4 minutes per side. Serve with salad.

Salmon with Mushroom Risotto

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place salmon onto baking sheet. Cook for 10 minutes (until salmon flakes). Plate and sprinkle with dill and lemon juice.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil a saucepan on medium. Add 1 minced garlic clove and 5 sliced mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 min. Add 1/3 cup arborio rice. Cook 1 minute. Add 1/3 cup each chicken stock and white wine vinegar. Cover and simmer on medium for 15 min.

Pita Pizzas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. On each of the 3 whole wheat pita shells spread: 1 tbsp pizza sauce, 2 slice of ham, pineapple chunks, and 2 oz of grated mozzarella cheese. Put on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, until cheese melts.

Race recap: Breaking Ice at the Icebreaker

Last weekend I ran my first 10km race of the season, The Glencoe Ice Breaker. The race was on Sunday and on Saturday it started to snow. A lot. Oh and it wasn't a nice, light dusting of snow, that would make running no problem. It was a lovely 20 cm of the thick heavy stuff. Sunday morning we woke up to this:

Part of me thought that the whole thing would be cancelled, but as I have learned in this city, no amount of crazy weather can stop runners. We are crazy like that.

The course was icy, really icy in fact. A guy beside me slipped and fell on one of the corners and at that point I figured this was not going to be the race to get a personal best. I really didn't want to get injured before my half marathon in a few weeks. My final official time was 50:18, which I'll take, seeing as most people were around 3 minutes slower than their personal best. New game plan: find a race in the summer and use that to get a personal best. Now back to the half marathon training.

Moving, Running and Eating

My life is in boxes right now. Yup, that's right, boxes. The papers are all signed, the moving van is booked, and the count down is officially at 5 days to go until we move into the new house. Did I also mention that I'm running a 10km and hoping for a personal best item in 6 days? oh right, forgot about that. I seriously think race organizers should send out a reminder a few weeks prior to the race saying, 'hey, remember that race you signed up for? well it's coming up so you better start training!" I've been so focused on the half marathon that I forgot about the 10km I signed up for next weekend. ooops. Well at this point, I'm just assuming that my training for the half is good enough for the 10km. That logic makes sense, right?

With the big move coming up, we have been attempting to clean out the fridge and freezer of all the leftovers. The meals have been really random and there have been a few flops along the way (tip: pasta in the slow cooker does not work). It has also been tough to keep to a clean eating plan as the leftovers tend to be some of the packaged and processed goods that made it to the back of the fridge. Despite the challenges of eating well with minimal food, we have had some really tasty meals. Bill and I have healthy fall-back stir-fry recipe that we both love and could probably eat every single day, so that has made a few appearances in the last few weeks.

Spicy Peanut Butter Stir-fry

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Chili Hot Sauce Paste
1 tbsp Peanut Butter (Natural)
3 tbsp low-sodium Soy Sauce
2 Chicken breasts, cubed

1 bag frozen Asian-style vegetables
1 cup Brown Rice, cooked

Directions:

1) In a large frying pan, on medium, heat oil and chili paste

2) Add chicken and cook

3) Add PB, once it melts, add the vegetables and soy sauce
4) Cook until vegetables are soft
5) Dish over rice

Serves: 4

Half Marathon Training: long or short run?

Last Sunday I did another one of my long runs for my half marathon training. I am having issues staying mentally motivated for these runs but I keep telling myself that the race will be even further so suck it up. Since we've had some nicer weather here and the snow on the race course has started to melt away, I decided it would be a good time to run a bit of the course.

Map of Race Course (green = race course, red = what I ran)

I felt like it was a good idea to run the course because now I'm aware of some of the challenging sections, like the steep hill at the 15km point. But I also feel like it might not have been a great idea because when I finished I thought "oh crap! I have to run how much further on race day?" Then I mapped it out and f-bomb, that is far! Oh well, I know I can do it but I definitely think I need to work on my mental game. So the long and the short of it [haha pun intended] is that my long run really wasn't so long in the end. *Tear*

Working Out When Sick

Last week I had a cold. It was not fun. My head felt like it was 200lbs, my nose was running like a tap, and I had that dry cough that leaves you with a man-voice. I was so attractive, I don't know how Bill could have resisted me. Anyway, when I get sick I have the mental debate of should I work out or not. I always want to workout but sometimes rest is just as important, or so I'm told. Well I decided to workout and then research to see if it was ok. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. The verdit: it's ok to workout when the cold is above the neck but only moderate intensity. Sweet! I like finding out that I'm right.

Here are some links on the topic, if you are interested and if you want a more trustworthy source:

Mayo Clinic

CNN Health

About.com