November Goals

I usually post my training log on Sundays, but this week, I haven't been training for any upcoming races. It feels weird to not have anything to train for. Hopefully that will change soon. 

On Friday, I went out for a short, easy run and felt pretty good. This morning, I did some speedwork and ran a total of 3.5 hard, fast miles. Well, fast for me. I also went for a spin on my bike in the afternoon, since I haven't biked in about two weeks! Unacceptable. I kept it short, about 11 miles.

For the month of November, my goals are:

1. Less mileage, more speed- I want to work on getting fast, and targeting a 10K later this month and one in the spring

2. More crosstraining- My body needs a break from running, and I want to get stronger in cycling and (maybe) swimming (coughtriathloncough). I'm also going to be doing more Insanity workouts for strength training.

3. Eat less sugar- I've been craving all the sweets lately, especially after the marathon. My diet has been fabulous after my wisdom tooth surgery, living off of pumpkin ice cream, froyo, sugary protein shakes, and more froyo. Oh, and Halloween candy!

And I just typed that last one after eating a packet of M&Ms, two fig bars, pretzels, and 2 graham crackers. Heck, I was hungry and dinner isn't until two hours. At Fruddruckers.

Yea...so let's see how this month goes. 

What are your goals for this month?

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Recovery Week

Happy Friday!

This week has been all about recovery for me. Recovering after the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, and recovering after oral surgery on Wednesday to extract a wisdom tooth. Can the pain stop soon?

I've definitely been taking it easy, running-wise, taking walks in the park every morning. Monday and Tuesday were pretty rough; my leg muscles were sore and feeling stiff. Wednesday was a lot better, and I barely felt sore on Thursday. Now, it's my jaw that feels sore. And swollen.

This whole recovery thing has gotten my schedule out of whack. Today I woke up late, at 7:40 (I always wake before 7)! I'm also a wimp and took two days off from work after the surgery. My job involves a lot of talking, so I thought it would be best to rest. All I've been doing is eating ice cream and watching Walking Dead.

And eating KitKats and Reeses, even though it takes a long time for me to eat it without chewing.

 

God, I feel lazy and fat. And it's pretty nice :)

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

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Happy Halloween!

Have a happy Halloween! Eat lot's o' candy for me, will ya?

I decided to do a Nightmare Before Christmas jack-o-lantern.

Spooky, huh?

I'm already eating candy from the candy bowl...

And I'm saving the best candy for myself ;) 

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October Foodie Pen Pals Reveal

It's Foodie Pen Pals Reveal Day! Don't know what Foodie Pen Pals is? Each month, you sign up and get paired with another foodie. You get to know them a little and what they like. Then you put together a little package filled with yummy treats for them! (Spending limit of $15). The best part is, you get a package from another participant. At the end of the month, bloggers who received packages share what they got from their pal on the Reveal Day.

My Foodie Pen Pal for this month was Debbie at Accidently Delish.

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What I Didn't Eat Wednesday

Ugh, it's What I Ate Wednesday in the blogosphere. I had to get a wisdom tooth extracted this morning, so I haven't eaten anything since 6:30 this morning. And I am so hungry, but too afraid of using my mouth yet. The septocaine is wearing off, so I can start to feel my face again. And a bit of soreness from the extraction area. I hope my painkillers are strong enough.

So, today is What I Didn't Eat Wednesday. Or What I Want to eat but can't Wednesday.

Like this Korean BBQ from Honeypig that I ate after the marathon on Sunday.

Or this lamb shawarma from Lebanese Taverna.

Or this amazing pastry from Les Madeleines in Salt Lake City.

Okay, I need to stop torturing myself with pictures of food. I'm going to take a nap!

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Marine Corps Marathon Recap: PART 2

Today's post is the rest of my Marine Corps Marathon race recap. Read Part 1 HERE

The first half went very well. I was going at a comfortable pace and I was right on target for my time goal. I reached 13.1 miles almost exactly at 2 hours. Let me tell you, though, the real halfway mark of a marathon isn't at mile 13.1. It gets exponentially harder after a certain point. My mentality for the race was a 20 mile "warmup" followed by a 10K "race". Meaning, the first 20 miles should feel relatively easy. The hard part is those last 6 miles. That was a seriously tough 10K.

So after about 13 miles, my right quad started to tighten up. I've actually been having some left knee issues, so I think my form was slightly off and I was putting more stress on my right leg. Throughout my training, I haven't really had much leg muscle fatigue like I was experiencing in the race. I don't know whether it's because of all the traveling this pasts month, or my nutrition hasn't been good enough. But both my quads were getting tight by mile 16. It was a bit demoralizing to know that I had to slow down for the last 10 miles, especially when I thought I was being pretty conservative in the first half. I started allowing myself to walk through the water stations. I grabbed two small cups of Gatorade and a cup of water at each one. Miles 18-19ish was up and down the National Mall and with the turn-around at the Capitol building. I saw my parents right near the Smithsonian metro station. My dad ran into the course to greet me and seeing them gave me a boost of energy :)

He wasn't ready with the camera, so I only have some blurry pics of me running by.

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Marine Corps Marathon Race Recap: PART 1

I ran my first marathon on Sunday, October 27th, 2013 and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. The Marines really know how to put on a great race; everything went smoothly and the crowd support was phenomenal. Having a Marine put my medal around my neck just made the experience all the more special.

I am splitting my race recap into two parts since I have so much to share about my first marathon.

The Health and Fitness Expo was held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Since I was out of town, I had to go on Saturday, which was the busiest day. The race packet pickup was set up in a large tent outdoors, and the expo was held in the DC Armory. The line for the bibs was crazy long, and we ended up waiting for about an hour. Once I got my bib, I had to get in another long line to get into the expo. The security was pretty strict; our bags were checked and they scanned us for metal objects on our person. After almost 2 hours in line, I finally got into the expo. I picked up my MCM mock technical tee and looked around the expo a bit.

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