Blog Change!

Homeslices... By popular demand...(and because my comment section sucks) I have moved my blog to...
http://www.runameliarun.wordpress.com/

Check me out over there! Please excuse the work in progress...
xoxo
-A

Attempt at Food Blogging

My running work-outs this week were nothing too exciting... well I suppose watching Dave run along the seawall in a hula skirt was pretty entertaining...

Sunday- Long Run- 18.55km Average Pace 5:02/km.

Monday- Recovery run through the UBC trails with Rachel. Easy on the knees.
11km Average Pace 5:20/km

Tip from a former Olympic trial athlete: Rachel!

-Run strides (fast runs) at the end of a long run. Example: 5X 100.
Nothing crazy but it pushes your legs a little further and reminds them how to run fast.  

I wish I looked like this...

Tuesday- 146m run. Don't ask.

Wednesday- 6km Pace- 4:40/km (We are like sneaky children when Dave isn't there to make us run 10km...)

Thursday- 10 min warm-up. 3X 9 minutes- 4:30/km

So here is my attempt at food blogging...

Food Blogger Fail #1: I decided to add a little excitement into my Tuesday by not eating crackers, hummus and cookies for dinner. Vola! I cooked....a little sweet potato, black bean, yellow, orange, red pepper, artichoke, tomato, pasta sauce, hot sauce fiesta. 

Say hello to my little tomato nephew Tomatoie. (Tomatoie says heeey Mom ;)

My uncle says you should eat with your eyes (food should look good). My eyes did not think this looked good but it didn't taste too bad. 

Food Blogger Fail #2: This sandwich is pretty delicious and what I take to school everyday. 

Squirrelly Bread (best bread ever if toasted)

Smoked Tofu

Avocado

Sriracha

Mustard

- Weird Combo but tastes good I promise!

Food Blogger Fail #3: Ate some delish frozen yogurt (fro-yo) with the running crew Wednesday night. It was so good! I piled on so many awesome toppings. (M&M's, oreo, strawberries, buttermilk, blueberries, raspberries, gummy bears, etc)

Note to self: Take a picture before you eat it all.

Annnd that's all I got. Don't really think food blogging is my thing but I might try...

PS:  Check out this awesome article by my "coach" Please help me with my running technique!

Blame it on the A-A-A-Alcohol

Or the Calgary Stampede.  Either one. (Just because I am in Vancouver doesn't mean I can't dress up like a cowgirl and drink.)

 Honesty time. Today's Summerfast 10km race was my punishment for a heavy night out. Why do I do this to myself?!

I woke up Saturday morning (thank you, Carolyn!) with about 10 minutes to get ready before the taxi came to take Care, Ally and I to the race.  I was feeling OK but totally not in race- mode. We did a little warm-up run (aka 1 km) and then got ready to roll.  I knew the race was flat the whole way through so my goal was to beat my PB (42:26). To make a 10km story short I ended up getting a PB. Yea! Sort of. I really didn't push it too hard during the race and know I could do better.  I was scared I would be sick if I ran too hard... and between kilometers 6 and 7 I was definitely not feeling hot. I also didn't  finish strong (people were  yelling "hard to the finish" to me, thanks people- do you want me to puke on you? )

Final Stats:

Time- 41:33

Average Pace- 4:11/km

Female Division- 5/65

Overall- 56/311

When I saw the results I was annoyed with myself because I think I could have run a lot faster and moved up a place. However, the race organizers combined the female age groups from 20-35 and gave medals to the top 5! Hollla! Thank you  VFAC for taking pity on the poor hungover girl.

Lessons Learned: Umm... don't drink the night before a race? I finished  feeling pretty comfortable and it wasn't an all out effort. It kind of went by in a blur. I hate not pushing myself during races, it feels like a waste. I think it's harder to do with shorter distances because I am so used too trying to conserve energy for longer races. Overall, I think that I kept a pretty good pace throughout the run but wish I had finished stronger.

I really liked the course, it was pretty and flat. Def wanted to be one of the people I saw on a boat instead of running...

Congrats to all my running friends for awesome races especially Ken for breaking 39 minutes. (Now can you not be so turbo?)

Rest Days and Butter Chicken

This weekend I went camping in the Coastal Mountains! Beaaau-ti-ful.

And I ate the best Butter Chicken I have ever had while camping. (Typical camp food, oui?)

Camping meant I missed my Sunday Long Run with the crew.  :( I think this was the first Sunday where I didn't run with the RR since moving to Vancouver. Can't believe they would run without me...geez.

Luckily, I dragged Keiran out with me once I got home since he is now training for the Montreal Marathon and luckily Keiran has no sense of smell so he couldn't tell how bad I stunk after my camping expedition. ;)

The route was supposed to look like this:

Easy. Out and back to Stanley Park. Nothing to it.Can't go wrong. Piece of cake.  Not quite. I didn't want couldn't find the turn off to go up the hill to Prospect Point so we ended up doing a little extra around Kits Beach. I am hopeless at directions.  

The run felt really good! I think it was a combination of the awesome weather (early evening- still sunny and cool) and my legs having a couple of days off. I really feel better on my runs after rest days because my muscles have had time to repair and strengthen. 

We ran 16.2km at a 5:18km pace.  

On Monday I took another rest day and did some strength work and then headed to the track Tuesday.

 I warmed-up in the trails with some ex-trackies for about 20minutes and then decided to do 10X400 at 10km race pace in prep for this weekend's 10kmer. This meant I should be running about 1:35-400s. 

 1-1:20 (too fast)

2- 1:26

3-1:27

4- 1:26

5- ?

6-1:30

7-1:28

8-1:29

9-1:30

10-1:28

I ran 400m recovery runs between each set. While these were a little faster than my 10km pace, it still felt pretty good. Track work-outs are awesome if you only have to run 400m reps.  Once around the track and done!

Why do I want to be a marathon runner again? So my feet can look like this?

I take it all back...

Running in the morning is the way to go! Wednesday night's run was a KILLA l0km... seriously, it felt worse than the marathon. I could hardly lift my legs off the ground... hence the 5:23/km "tempo" run. (Numerous walk breaks were taken, innocent people were exposed to my sweat showers, profanities were spoken. Thank you Carolyn and Evelyn for letting me complain so much). After realizing how hot it was at 6pm in the evening, I agreed to meet my friend Rachel for a fartlek type run (speed intervals) Thursday morning at 5:40am..! Immediately after I agreed to it, I was nervous. Rachel ran varsity track at university (2:12-800m! Went to Olympic trials!Ahhh!) I was out of my league. Luckily, Rachel has just started getting back into running and our plan was to do 4 sets of 8 minutes at a 4:00-4:15 pace with a 1 minute walk break between each. 
It wasn't that hard getting up in the morning (probably because I woke up every 5 minutes scared my alarm would go off) and it was so pretty watching the sunrise! It was the perfect temperature as we started out on our 3km warm-up.
Our session looked like this:

#1- 4:09/km - 1.93 km

#2- 4:12/km -1.90km

#3-4:11/km- 1.91km

#4- 4:20/km- 1.85km

My legs were pretty sore afterwards and it was starting to get really hot. Glad I got my work-out in early. I went to the gym afterwards and foam rolled my legs out which made them feel so much better. Can't believe I just started doing this! Tonight at Run Club Dr.Aaron Case came into our clinic to talk about injury prevention and stretching.  Foam rolling is key and contrary to popular belief, static stretching (holding stretches) does not prevent injuries. It's better for most people to do some dynamic stretching (constant, fast movements) before and after their run.
Ahhh trees= shade.

Good-bye June-ary, Hello July!

Spent my afternoon class at the ropes course on UBC. Thank you, BEd summer semester.

It's finally summer in Vancouver! Sunny and Hot, Hot, Hot! On that note...it's time to complain about it.
 "I hate track work-outs." -Alan Yu    
  Amen brother.
They are so hard in the sun and heat.
Today at the track our plan was to do 16X800  8X800. (Nice try, Ken.)
This then turned into 6X800.
I recently read on this track pacing chart that in order to break 42:00 minutes for the Summerfast 10km, I need to be running 2:50 800's during track work-outs.
I did that for one. Shameful. My lungs felt like they were burning!

1. 2:51

2. 3:11 (?!)

3. 1:25 (switched to a 400m)

4. 3:00

5: 3:03

6.2:57

Plus a 5km warm-up and 1mile cool-down.

Tips for running in the heat:
-Go early in the morning or late at night. (I don't buy this because sometimes that doesn't fit into the schedule)
-Drink lots of water!
-Wear little clothing.
-Run in the shade.
-Run shorter distances. (Hmm hard when marathon training?)
-Adjust your pace.  (This makes me feel better!)
-You will get used to it. Your body will adjust. (Here's hoping)
-Run through sprinklers! (We did that after the track and it was awesome!)

Sunday, Monday

What up Queenie!

Sunday's Long Run was the second time I ran up Queen Elizabeth hill this week-I guess with the Queen visiting the country - it's only fitting I pay my respect my running "her" hill twice.

The run was fairly hilly but once you get to the top it's only about 4km downhill back to the store. Nnot a bad route at all. The weather was perfect for running  but I never really got into the grove. When I first started running my leg felt so sore. I was favoring one leg and it felt like I was limping when I ran. After about 5km I loosened up a bit. 

This is where I hurt. I believe it is my left abductor.  Someone fix me?

The route was 16km long and average pace for Sunday's run was 5:23/km.

Monday, I rook Keiran along one of my favorite routes. It's about a 10km loop around the seawall and back over Burrard bridge.

Average pace= 5:25/km.  My leg felt pretty good and the run was very comfortable. I think it only hurts in the mornings when I wake up and am stiff. Wow, I am aging at an incredible fast rate.

There are so many awesome running routes in Vancouver that I do with the Running Room that I never really have to think of my own. However, if you want to find a new and pretty run near where you live (ahem, Mom and Dad) or just want to plan out a new route http://www.mapmyrun.com/ is a good website to check out.