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!

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?

Running Races, Making Money

Some people make money winning races, I make my money in the freebies section after the race. ;) This year's  Longest Day of the Year Run at UBC was no exception or maybe it was an exception because the amount of swag I took was UNREAL. More on that later, first- the race re-cap.
This race was kind of a last minute decision after my friend Alyson mentioned that the gym she works at was hosting it. It sounded like a fun 10km... actually, the semi-legendary beer garden at the end of the event is what really sounded like fun! Carolyn, Alyson and our other running buddy Alan all signed up. We ended up not being able to find the UBC stadium and running around campus for a little longer then intended. I hate being rushed before a race but that seems to be a common theme this race season and maybe it's actually better since I can't freak out before the start. The course was two loops around the UBC campus- I had no idea what the route was until we started running. (Note to self: check routes, visualizing a race is a good thing, I was checking my watch a lot) Since it was just two loops, once we had completed one lap, I knew exactly what I needed to do to finish the race. Despite playing 3 hours of ultimate Thursday night with no subs, my legs held up really well during the run. No running pain! My goal going into the race was sub 45:00, once I got into the run and felt really good I decided to push myself and aim for sub 43:00. My final time was 42:26:94.

 My results:
  5km split- 21:12.79
  Average pace- 4:15/km
  Overall Female - 8/ 293
  Age Group- 6/ 169

Overall, I am happy with this race. I pb'd and felt pretty good throughout despite my legs not being so fresh. The course was a little twisty but there were no major hill climbs. Big shout out to Dave for running out to UBC and cheering us on, taking pictures and being the best coach ever!
Check out my flashy new running flats...

They are the Saucony Kinvara and I love them! They are very light and cushiony..it's the closest I have gotten to barefoot running.

SO... the best part of the race was the after-party! The food layout was magical. Burgers, dogs, fresh fruit, cookies, chips, cliff bars, lara bars, ice cream. Honestly, it was a little over-whelming. As Carolyn put it, it was like Halloween for healthy people.

The girls and I probably embarrassed ourselves with the amount of swag we took but hey- everyone is getting lip balm for their birthdays from now on! :)

Day of Fitness

I am tired!! Today was a pretty active day on my part. Started the morning with some oatmeal WITHOUT banana... not recommended, felt lost all day. Then did some school work at Blendz and hit the gym for some weight training. I only stayed about 25 minutes and did abs and arms. I need to get some new weight moves! I have pretty much been doing the same workouts since first year university... no wonder I don't see results. After the gym, I came home, ate a veggie stir fry in a wrap for lunch and biked to UBC. It's about a 25 minute bike ride there, mostly uphill and about 15-20 minutes back. It was wearing a white t-shirt and I was sweeeeatyyy. Sorry people who had to sit beside me in class ;)
The best part of my day was running with Alyson! We are marathon training buddies but haven't gotten to run together much since the big race. We planned on going for a long run- 18km but were talking a lot and at about 7km stopped and stretched and then turned around and came back... serious training starts SUNDAY... All in all we did a little over 12km. Not too bad considering the most I usually run on a Tuesday is 6km... Afterwards, we went to the Local for beer, wine and LOTS of food. We split yam fries, fish tacos and a tuna salad... so good but still full. I could fall asleep now but must finish watching Flight of the Conchords... love this show.

Here is a pic of Alyson after running the Vancouver marathon. We both qualified for Boston! Wooo