Give me back that filet o'fish, give me that fish

This has absolutely nothing to do with..well...anything...and the last time I had a Filet O'Fish was probably sometime in the 90s...but this commercial just cracks me up for some reason



Other things that start with F...February...as in, February Training Recap!
Total miles: 227.7
This was JUST OFF my all time mileage PR of 229.1, set in September '09.  I'm pretty much giving it to myself as my highest mileage training month ever though, since February is a short month so in terms of miles/day, it was definitely a high!
Days off: 5
Workouts: 8 [3 fartlek, 2 tempo, 1 mile repeats, 1 progression, 1 race]
Longest run: 20.6
Weekly mileage range:  49.6-61.9

Wow, I usually despise February with all of my heart and soul, but this was probably the best month of training I've ever had.  No offense to my home state, but leaving the Wisconsin winter behind was definitely a pretty fantastic thing as far as running was concerned.  The winter out here has been super mild by my standards - there really haven't been any days when I've been like "oh, hell no am I running outside in that...", and really the only time I took my workouts to the TM was for the sake of knowing my pace.  I really can't think of any god-awful runs in February either.  I hit pace for every workout, set a big 10K PR, my long runs went reasonably well and I've been running them faster than last training cycle, and I've already got 2 20 milers under my belt.  I guess my only concern at this point is that my training is going TOO well...as in, I really don't want to peak too early.  That might have something to do with the fact that during my last training cycle, I was running a lot but I wasn't really "training" until like...7 weeks out from the race.  So the plan at this point is to just stay tuned in to my physical/mental state as March, ie, training month from hell, progresses, keep an eye on an possible signs of overtraining, and other than that, just continue to rock it out!

Speaking of training, is it weird that lately I have been anxiously looking forward to my speed workouts, and absolutely dreading my longer easy runs? Seriously, why am I totally excited to run fartleks or tempo intervals on the treadmill, with a long warmup and cooldown, and yet an 8-12 mile easy run is something I just dread? I can't quite figure it out. I guess its GOOD that I get excited about speedwork though haha - never really thought I'd see the day when that would happen!  I think it's because my quality workouts have been going really well in general, as far as hitting my paces and not feeling like I'm going to die at the same time.  They've served as really great confidence boosters and kind of stand in my mind as a testament to the fact that I actually AM getting faster and stronger through all of this training. The easy runs just kind of "are" - some days I'm feeling it, some days I'm not.  12 miles is pretty long, but not long enough to be a "long run", but still takes a long time, you know what I mean? Well anyway, maybe if I start thinking of my easy runs as "3 mile warmup, 6 miles easy, 3 mile cooldown" I'll like them better. Haha.

Training aside, here are a couple of random things I've really been enjoying lately [aside from the Filet O'Fish commercial, haha]...mostly food.  Because who doesn't love food?

• Coconut Water!  I had heard about this from some other blog or something, that it's supposedly this big deal in sports drinks because it naturally has a ton of electrolytes [especially potassium] and some sugar, without the obscene dose of fake sugar and dyes that you get in Gatorade or whatever.  I really don't go one way or the other on the whole natural eating thing, but I saw this at Whole Foods and was intrigued.  It was AMAZING! It comes in a bunch of flavors - I tried the VitaCoco tangerine and peach/mango flavors.  I was kind of wary because I don't really like the taste of coconut that much, but the fruit purees that they added [the only other ingredient besides the coconut water itself] really added a nice, light fruity flavor.  Totally not the super sugary, almost syrupy taste you sometimes get with sports drinks. The peach/mango was my favorite.  As for it's properties as a good sports drink, I haven't tested that one yet - I had it for breakfast haha.  I'm doing an 18 miler this weekend, 13 of which will be with a friend, so I'm planning on grabbing one for the last 5 miles and see how I feel!

• Australian Yogurt!  I LOVE yogurt. For breakfast, for a snack, for dessert...don't care, I think it's delicious.  During my last WF visit I wasn't too impressed with the flavor selection or price on their "generic" brand yogurt, so I figured I would spend the extra 20 cents per carton and try something new - enter Wallaby Australian Yogurt. What is Australian yogurt? I'm still kind of trying to figure out the difference haha. As far as ingredients, I think they use a slightly lower percentage milkfat milk than like, Yoplait [1.5% instead of 2%?] and use organic cane sugar.  I'm not sure if there's some sort of difference in the culturing process, all I know is the yogurt is super smooth and very light.  It comes in some pretty tasty and interesting flavors that you don't see in regular yogurt [I mean, I love blueberry and strawberry as much as the next person...but sometimes that gets a little boring].  And I absolutely LOVED their fruit on the bottom flavors.  Like, half the carton is fruit! I had the grapefruit one, which sounded weird but ended up being totally delicious.  I think for the fact that this stuff is natural, comes in fun flavors, and not as uber-sweet as other yogurt tends to be, it might be worth the extra couple bucks to buy it instead. Yum!

• Sweet Potato Fries! I think I got this idea from someone's blog too...and it has quickly become a go-to snack/side for me! So easy: cut up sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, toss with pepper, seasoned salt, and whatever other seasonings you desire, and bake for 15-20 minutes...and there you have GOODNESS!  It's a great way to eat something salty/tastes kind of unhealthy, but really it isn't! Yay for good-for-you food! :)

I really have been trying to eat better lately.  Can you tell? I think the final straw was the day that I worked a long shift, and because someone bought us pizza, ended up eating ONLY pizza, ALL day.  Yikes!  It's not weight I'm worried about, just putting good FUEL into my body as opposed to crap, especially going into this super hardcore final month of training. So I'll keep you posted on any more delicious-yet-semi-nutritious items I discover in my random Whole Foods and Trader Joe's trips :)

Is it really Friday already? Guess I should stop whining about my 12 miles and just Get. It Done!  Have a great weekend!

Ease on down, ease on down the road

HM Training Recap - Week 2
Monday: Off (planned)
Tuesday: 6.6 easy (7:35 pace)
Wednesday: 8 easy (7:05 pace)
Thursday: 6.2 easy (7:19 pace)
Friday: 8.4 easy (7:47 pace)
Saturday: 4.3 easy (7:46 pace)
Sunday: 9.4 easy/last 10 minutes moderate (7:26 pace)
Total miles: 42.8
Days off: 1
Crap-fests: 0! :)

R-O-C-K in the USA. That's how I feel about this week. It was such a strange and ridiculous turnaround from how I felt last week because seriously, every run, I felt fantastic. Wednesday's 8 miler was definitely a highlight, I found this new route that I am completely in love with. Basically, its a loop (bonus points right off the bat) that combines bits and pieces of all my favorite routes, plus it can be lengthened really easily to be a longer run. Because I love pain, there's a big hill at ~mile 7 no matter what you do, but the rest of it is relatively flat. Sweeeet deal. So I knew I was cruising, but it felt so easy that I really wasn't quite aware of how fast I was running. 7:05? That might be a little excessive. The next day's 7:19 pace was also a little ridiculous, and I paid for it on Friday when my legs decided they weren't interested in continuing with this whole "running" business around mile 7 of my 8.5 mile run. Saturday was pretty rough as well, I ran a mile with a dog at work (we take them on walks which are a mile long...this little lab puppy wanted to run, so I said OK! My co-workers were like wow, I never would have done that hehe) and then only 3.3 miles later, during which I felt pretty crappy, but that's what happens when my legs are beat up from running fast earlier in the week. My long run was great, it was my longest since, well, the half marathon, which was over a month ago...and I felt really good and relaxed throughout, and was obviously running at a decent clip, which was once again surprising. Hello, if I could do THAT in an actual HM race...but anyway. So, a very good week, and I managed to work it all around my 40 hours of work - planning is the name of the game.

Another thing I think was a big contributor to my success was my amazing discovery of something that has been sitting right under my nose for the past 6 months...GELS! Seriously, how did I never try this before? I consistently have problems with nutrition before runs...I either seem to a) eat too close to when I go running, so I'm full but have stomach problems or b) don't eat enough, am starving, and feel like crap (lately, the latter has been occuring much more frequently, no thanks to my idiotic job schedule). I have a hard time eating much within about an hour of running, so if I need to get off work and get my butt on the roads ASAP, there really isn't time to eat. Enter: gels. I have a whole box of PowerGels that I got after volunteering at the Ironman in September (working the 7-11 shift definitely had its perks). I tried one, didn't really like how it tasted, and figured I had basically no use for them, but kept the box anyway. On Wednesday it occurred to me that I needed to go running, I was sort of hungry but didn't want to eat anything...and then as I was hunting for my shoes, I happened to glance at the box of gels sitting under my desk. I figured it couldn't hurt to try one, so I washed down a Double Latte one with some water, and off I went. Now, maybe it's just a placebo effect of me just thinking that trying something different was going to make my run better - but it was GREAT! I didn't feel hungry, but my stomach wasn't rebelling as it would have if I'd eaten something solid. I've been taking them before my longer runs this past week and I seriously am a believer. I think when I get up to 13-14 milers I might bring one along, just because I'm so confident in the boost that it gives me. So yeah, gels...win!

Lately I've taken to running with my Ipod...so maybe I'm not a purist, but sometimes I need a little extra something to get me out the door and music is it. During my long run yesterday, I seriously think it somehow knew I was running, as I heard "Marathon" and "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" back to back, a live version of "Born To Run", and of course, finishing off the run with "Ease on Down The Road" - classic. Much as I love running with tunes, I'm excited to run with some WTC girls this week...and also this week is the inagural WTC Beer Mile! My first race of the summmer (hah ;)) Actually, I am finally starting to get my racing schedule figured out, assuming it all works out with work. I'm racing the Capitol Mile on the 26th, a 5K on August 6, and then a half marathon at the end of August (I'm not technically racing that one, but its a training run for the real deal in October - which I need to sign up for this week..eek!) I've downgraded my expectations for the BF to run a 5K since I'm having a hard time getting him to stick to a training plan (not that I blame him haha), and since I actually LOVED the triathlon I figure I won't torture him too much, so he's going to do the Capitol Mile...since we know he can run a mile. :)

Today was my day off, which was nice since my legs are definitely feeling the somewhat sudden jump in mileage/intensity. But I'm looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow, and that makes me happy - that I'm looking forward to running. It feels like since the end of track season that's been a hard feeling to find, but I think I'm finally starting to get it back. So yay for that! :)