Ramp up to a Taper and Nutrition ReThinking

While I haven't forgotten that my first race of 2010 is coming up...I totally forgot about having to include a taper into the process. I was gearing up to run the full Bay route (30km) this coming Sunday but it will be a step back week so I only have to do 6km.
This is a big mental adjustment for me so I will have my mantra of: "I will love the taper" in full bloom next week.

Ramp up:
Sunday was a GREAT 27km run. It was quite warm out, , the company was great and I made it through with no problems. Post run I stretched and gulped down my chia seeds and Chocolate Amazing Grass. Don't know if mentally, I wanted it to work but I felt really good for the rest of the day and Monday did not have any real lingering pain or stiffness. Damn healthy food proving their value yet again! (and it wasn't the wine either as I only had a small glass Sun night)
Last night was a pretty good 8km tempo run that I will admit was done at the gym. We do about 95% of our running outside but with the craptacular snow that came and me being seriously clutzy I made an executive decision and had some quality time with the treadmill. Though doing speed work on a treadmill freaks me out a bit:



I did enjoy it ...though I don't think the guy beside me could understand the huffing and puffing I was doing throughout the run.

On Sunday post run, I crashed a nutrition talk our coach was giving to the Duathlon/Triathlon team. It was very interesting in terms of the ratio of protein vs carbs they were advising at this point in the athlete's training. Since it is still a ramp up phase for them (i.e. not racing yet), the quantity of both is equal - 40% each and 20 % fat. This is because the extra protein helps to repair the muscles that they are constantly using in training. Once they get to race time, the carbs will be upped a bit to fuel them for racing. Eveyone is also supposed to be more mindful about incorporating fruits/veggies vs just starches for their carbs.
Basically...we are following the Canada Food Guide. To me it was interesting as I know I focused more on the starch side of things for my carbs while still eating a lot of veggies. I am going to be more mindful of the starch side of things going forward and just see if this affects my energy levels.
And if my pants fit even better than they do...yippee!

Run Smart...and a bunch of healthy stuff

First things - the Road ID I won from Marlene came this week - the hubs was surprised and appreciative...thanks again Marlene!











After Tuesday's solo 26km run, I felt ok but my legs were sore on Wednesday - walking to the coffee station at the office was a slow process..my coworkers must thing I am seriously out of shape the way I was shuffling. We had spin/core that night and I still managed to get a good workout. Thursday night was our last night of hills - on the schedule was 6 repeats (12 total for both sides we do). My coach said to run smart - if my legs were still sore to not do the full 6 repeats.
Does anyone else struggle with this idea/realization/thinking of backing off? I do still...If I am doing a workout, I might as well workout as hard as my body will take me and not think of the consequences...NOT a good thing if you are a runner....
So, I really listened to my body and how I felt. I did the first 6 and then moved to the other side...and busted out the other 6 for a total of 13km. I didn't 'push' it and if it had hurt...I would have stopped. Maybe I am learning...

Friday night I had to work at 11pm and didn't get in until 5:15am, resulting in sleeping in until 11am. I don't think I moved at all during the 6 hrs of sleep. (though the cats using me as a pillow helped as well).
The hubs and I went out to GNC as he is a big user of supplements - he is injury prone and has a hard time keeping weight on so he uses a lot of pre/post/during workout products as you can see in our kitchen:

I picked up a new shaker...one that is dishwasher safe and much more portable:

complete with a manual 'blender' :

I also picked up some chia seeds which I have been reading a lot about and got at a HUGE deal on. Tomorrow post run, I am trying a bunch of new stuff out:

Chia+new shaker+chocolate Amazing Grass I got from Vanessa. We will see if it makes recovery from tomorrow's 26km run any easier.

Don't worry...I am not going all granola on you. I also picked this up for Sunday night's dinner:

NYC recap and a 26km solo afternoon run

NYC was awesome ... as usual. I was actually surprised to see very little snow on the acutal city streets considering it had been a blizzard only a few days prior. Only in NY I guess.

We had an amazing time - walked a zillion kms, went to the Guggenheim, walked all through Central Park, eyeballed the models at the tents for Fashion week, oggled the jewels at Tiffanys, DeBeers and Cartier and laughed a lot.

Highlights of the trip:

Chelsea Market - great place..the Food Network is located here which I didn't know. They have everything from cupcakes, to a fish market to a florist to bakeries here. We ate breakfast at RonnyBrook Dairy which was great. I had coffee, fresh eggs and toast and salad for $6.00.

...and for those food bloggers, this is a location of One Lucky Duck. The hubs got a great smoothie here...which cost $10.00. Yeah..ok....

Ted Baker - I love Ted Baker and we found out they were having a huge sale in the SoHo location so I lucked out with 2 tops and a skirt for dirt cheap (relatively speaking.)

Guggenheim - I am an art history major but had yet to go to the Guggenheim so we had a great few hrs exploring and enjoying the various works.

Valentine's Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery: I know it is cliche to go here but they were seriously good...Red Velvet Cupcakes? Delish..

Food:

Comfort Diner - cheap and fantastic breakfast

db Moderne - pricey but amazing gourmet food

5 Napkin Burger - oh my....none of us even came close to finishing our food here but it was amazing...

All in all a great trip. We flew JetBlue out of Buffalo to JFK which we had not done before and I actually preferred it - less delays, flat rate for cabs etc.

So before we left, I made a deal that I while I would enjoy myself, I would also keep some level of training up:

Thursday: 11km of hill training before jumping into the car and driving to Buffalo. Luckily for everyone, we stayed over so I could shower before getting onto the plane.

Saturday and Sunday: 25 min of core preceeded by a 7km treadmill run to test out these bad boys:

I am no longer an Asics girl. I hate the new design of the Kayanos and my old shoes were completely dead so I was time to try out something new - the Nike LunarGlide+. They are a lot lighter but still give me the foot support I need. Fingers crossed on these. I also got them in Orange and Pink.

So I still wanted to get my long run in for the week (26km) so I did it yesterday. I planned out a 17km route not far from our place and made a loop back to the house so I could get more water and change shoes as I wanted to split the run up between the Nikes. I then did the last 9km from our place to end at our clinic and make it there for the weekly talk. The hubs was already there so it forced me to stretch and not just jump in the shower had I just finished directly at ahom. Overall it was a great run and I really had no issues at all other than mentally cursing the last 2km which tends to be my usual pattern. I am tired this morning so spin/core should be fun tonight.

Winning stuff is fun

I have been lucky enough over the last few weeks to have won a few things in this awesomeness that is BlogLand:

1. Vanessa over at Last Night's Leftovers recently had the following giveaway which I received

yesterday:

A real espresso maker, sample of Amazing Grass (SO excited to try these), mini measuring spoons and Kicking Horse coffee beans. Kicking Horse is a fav in our house so this will have a good home in Ontario for sure.

I was very excited to open this up when I got home as you can see from the wrapping which didn't stand a chance:

Apparently, they make super strong packing tape in the 'Peg as I have to get all Hulk to open it:

2. I also won Marlene's Road ID giveway so I ordered an elite ID for the hubs so he will actually have something on him when he runs and bikes and lets me have some peace of mind. (and it counts as a Valentine's Day gift as well)

Thanks to Vanessa and Marlene for their giveaways. It gave my rough few days a much needed lift!

And before you ask, yes I am buying a lottery ticket tonight. Perhaps my dream job as Lottery Winner will come to fruition....

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Last night was a 45 min Zone5 in windy and little bitty stinging snow pellets. It was a pretty good run overall - at least I went out early enough so that it wasn't too icy. Tonight is the usual spin/core torture. I can FINALLY sleep in tomorrow as I took a vacation day to get ready for our trip to NYC and run hills tomorrow in the daylight.

NYC is being hit with a snowstorm right now - it looks like we should be fine so I am not going to worry about it. We don't necessarily have set plans except for:

• hitting up Chelsea Market - can't believe I have yet to go here
• eating at one of the tons of places the husband wants to check out (my workout attire is following me to NYC...)
• getting some new shoes ....running shoes that is
• visiting the Guggenheim
• and possibly going to the store with the little blue boxes for an early Bday present:

Yup, I love NYC..

Catch up

Whoa...last week got away from me. I have been super work busy and the hubs was away so before I knew it the week was gone. Training wise, it was another pretty good one:
Monday: off..I was a bit beat from Sunday's run so I took it off.
Tuesday: crappy Zone5 run...my heart wasn't in it...
Wed: awesome 60 min bike drills class
Thurs: Hill repeats - 4X2. Same route/routine as last week and overall it went just as well. The first 4 repeats were on the section of the road that is closed so it was a bit icy and snow covered so we had to take it a bit easier than usual. The second repeats were interesting as we had to 'share' the road with....
Skateboarders.. I am not kidding. At the very least they had helmets on but no reflective gear and were bombing down a road that on this side is still open to traffic (though very little). They were nice enough as they did ask if there were a lot of us out running but it was not something I was expecting...must be nice to have that much lack of fear! They were moving in those boards.
Friday: easy 9km run at the gym
Sat: the usual torture session - 50 min Zone3 spin followed by 50 min conditioning class which totally burned out our legs.
Sunday: Yesterday was our usual group long run- 25km- and it was ....ok. My legs were heavy and I had a tough time getting into a comfortable stride. It was very sunny but freaking cold out and we did the hill part of the Around the Bay route again...gotta love hills on a Sunday morning. The last 2km was painful - I was hurting. Today, I feel ok though my feet are tired. I am in the market for new shoes soon so I may have to do a bit more testing out to see if I do need something different.

This week is a short week as I have Thursday/Friday off - Thursday to get caught up on house stuff and Friday for a mini trip to NYC.

I heart NY....and can't wait to get away with my Valentine.

I'm happy to be mobile - weekend recap

Another weekend gone..
And another month...Ummm where did January go?
Sat was yet another insane training day of Zone5 (intervals) Spin + 60 min of conditioning. We were calling our coach "Satan" midway through and it just got worse. We started with basically 30 minutes of lunges, squats, wall sits etc. The F-Bomb was freely said by all.
Sunday was a 24km group run on Saturday's tired legs and it was also a chilly/hilly one. Chilly was -15 with the windchill - it wasn't too bad except it did get pretty windy for the first half of the run. Hilly was because we did the middle section of the Bay route (basically the 18-21km part) as part of the overall route. It isn't necessarily tough but after hills on Thursday night and Satan's workout on Saturday, my quads were done. Overall it was a really good run - my longest thus far - and we even threw in a bit of race pace. You know...just for fun. I bought a pair of recovery socks from Sugoi and have started using after any running. I find they helped thus far so I am glad I spent the $$ on them. I did feel like crap Sunday afternoon but that is my own fault - after our run, we went out for brekkie and I did not eat anywhere near enough or the right things. Apparently eggs and I do not agree when I am in need of recovery food.
Apparently I need......veggies. My go to recovery food (aside from Choc milk) is now veggie soup enhanced with a whackpile of spinach, edamame and peas. Every long run where I have had this after I have felt great. I didn't on Sunday until dinner and then I felt good.
Maybe it is my wee highly suggestable brain but if veggies make me feel better, then veggies it is.
Don't get me wrong though...I will indulgent in other non-veggie food on Sunday as well. I haven't drank all the Kool-Aid our coaches give us.