I cut. I'm committed.

A friend at work also started sewing when I did. So, we swap ideas and share things that we learn along the way. Today, she brought in her latest project, a quilt! Let me tell you it was so awesome! I felt guilty since I have been rather slack in my sewing sessions, but seeing her excellent craftsmanship inspired me. All day at work I was thinking about what I could make tonight.

Today we had a bit of a tropical storm, so afternoon running was easily cancelled. Since I had extra time, I came home and made myself some coffee ready to get some things accomplished. Boy, did coffee do the trick!

I decided to close the loop on some napkins I had started last year. Here is a picture of one of my new fall napkins:

Well, when I finished those I decided to bite the bullet and dive into my Starbucks T-Shirt quilt. I had a discussion today that I've been putting this off because I'm nervous. You see, once you cut, then you are committed. (I'm not the world's best at commitment.) I have spent hours designing this quilt, but just couldn't cut the shirts...until tonight. I decided I would just do it! I managed to cut 4 of the larger panels and attach the interfacing. I've got goals to cut a few each night and attach interfacing so that I can start piecing them together. I'm getting excited about it now! I hope this thing will turn out and in the next few weeks I have something comfy to curl up on the couch with. I'll keep you posted.

The Ladder

Tonight's speed training was another push towards our 2 hour goal by following "The Ladder." This exercise involves increasing the distance while slowing down the pace. Tonight it was suppose to look like this:

400m with goal pace of 8:00/mile
600m with goal pace of 8:10/mile
800m with goal pace of 8:18/mile
1000m with goal pace of 8:24/mile
1200m with goal pace of 8:30/mile

I found it interesting how you can trick your body into thinking it is going slower than it truly is. The first lap wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. It doesn't get easier, it just becomes manageable. The last few laps were incredibly difficult but it doesn't feel so fast since you are technically going slower than before. Breathing is still difficult but I am beginning to learn how to relax my upper body. I find that helps with the running faster.

How did we do? Here are our stats for the evening:

400m/7:41
600m/8:05
800m/8:12
1000m/8:15
1200m/8:27

Not too shabby, huh? I'm so proud of us!!!

8k PR

As you have read, I'm trying something new this time for my half marathon training. This go around, we are training for time. This involves speed work, something I have done very little of until now. Surprisingly, the training has made us faster. (Duh?!?!)

Today was my first race to actually race. You either run a race or you race it. This is a common question you can ask a runner before a race: "Are you running or racing?" Before now, I would just run to finish and keep my pace pretty comfortable. I would cross the finish hardly breathing hard. Well, that can't be the case anymore. We are bumping it up a notch. Today was that opportunity.

I got to the race early enough to watch the 5k start. Then my running partner and "Coach" ran a very slow mile to warm up and get our legs ready to move. Karen and I laughed again about being "those people" now as we saw a few others doing the same and the participants waiting on the 8k glaring like "Why are they running NOW?"

We had a game plan to start slower and speed up as we went and then open it up full speed ahead the final mile. Well, it didn't go exactly as planned. I think we started too fast because we slowed down at mile 3 and mile 4 was horribly slow. However, we opened it up for the final mile. That was so stinkin' hard! Luckily, "Coach" ran the last quarter mile or so in with us pushing us to the end. The moment I crossed the finish my watch said 7:00 minute/mile pace. WOW!

Today's race was a personal record (PR) for me, which is good. However, it was a little humid. I hope that means we would be faster minus humidity. Nonetheless, I finished in 48:20. I need to get down to a solid and comfortable 9:00/mile. Working towards that. Here are my splits for the race today:

Mile 1: 9:16

Mile 2: 9:26

Mile 3: 10:00

Mile 4: 10:49 (Eek! VERY bad)

Mile 5: 8:45

Now, I need to add Tempo runs to my weeks. I think I'm going to kick hills to the curb and swap that out for tempo. This training thing is a part-time job!

3-2

Last weekend I celebrated my 32nd birthday. Presumably so, I spent the weekend eating, eating, and more eating. Chip took me to The Melting Pot, my unofficial birthday spot. And I was able to go spend some time with my folks on Sunday in Raleigh. This is the yummy carrot cake my momma made for me to bring home. Half of this cake is in the freezer now. I ate entirely too much food for a week. Something's gotta give, so to the freezer it went. I'm sure I will enjoy it on a rainy day in October.

Thank you to all my friends for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts. I am truly blessed with some incredible friendships.

Coconut Water: Miracle Drink or Gimmick?

I'm not going to dance around the issue. If any product has a compelling argument that it will make me run better, improve my health, or increase weight loss, chances are pretty great I will buy it and give it a chance. Sales folks for these type products see me coming a mile away.

I have read a few articles on line and heard from a co-worker about coconut water. I hadn't seen it in any stores yet, so I hadn't given it a shot. My trip to Trader Joe's this weekend gave me an opportunity to purchase. I figured I could spend $1.49 for the test.

According to the interweb, coconut water has more potassium than a banana and contains the 5 electrolytes that your body needs to stay hydrated. The potassium helps to maintain water balance and helps optimizing your muscles contracting and relaxing. And BONUS: The 11 ounce package I purchased only had 60 calories.

I decided I would try it today with my easy run in case I had some adverse reaction to it. It has a very unusual taste. Something about the name lead me to believe it may have a taste of coconut. Not true. It is a taste I have never had before. Since it did not meet my expectation of coconuty flavor, I was extremely surprised. It wasn't gross and I will probably enjoy it more now that I know what to expect.

Nonetheless, I drank it about 45 minutes before running. At the beginning of my run, I noticed that my legs still felt tired from Saturday but I had plenty of energy to finish. In fact, our schedule for today said 5 miles at a 10:30 pace. I averaged 5 miles at a 10:00 pace and I wasn't trying. I also noticed that I wasn't dying for water at the end as I usually do. Now, this could all be in my head since I ate well today and also had a yogurt and fruit this afternoon before the drink. AND the weather isn't a million degrees so I'm not as dehydrated as I was this summer. AND I drank about 80 ounces of water before the run. Lots of factors could have played into the success of the run but it is way more exciting to say I found a miracle drink.

Sew much to do...

As you may recall, I am teaching myself to sew. I've gotten in the habit of buying random patterns when they are 99cents and then trying them out when I find some fabric that I think will work. Today I finished some napkins and created a reuseable grocery bag. I'm not wild about the bag because there are several imperfections but I'm hoping to improve.


Now, I'm going to make myself a clutch bag as soon as I decide which pattern and material to use. What do you think? A clutch with a zipper or flap?

Pushing the End

This week was our first intense week towards our Richmond goal. So far training has been both challenging and encouraging.

Here's how it is suppose to work. Long runs are run about 2 minutes slower than your desired race pace. In order to run the half in 2 hours, we need to pace about 9:10/mile. My best half marathon time was a 2:15 which calculates a pace of 10:18. Math majors, that is over a minute per mile cut. This is no easy goal, to say the least, but we are going to try. The speedwork we are doing is an effort to eliminate that minute from our pace.

This weekend "coach" suggested we run the first 7 miles at about 11:00/mile pace but run the final mile at race pace. We weren't certain we could pull off the final push for speed. Tim says this sort of thing trains your legs that they can push even when they are tired. That's what we need. So, half heartedly we agreed to at least try it. I have to admit it was sort of fun. Our final mile was a nice trail that had a few small inclines and some winding parts. It sort of felt like we were on a roller coaster. We were breathing pretty hard and anxious about hitting the end but we did it. Final mile pace: 9:07.

I DID IT! I DID IT!

Well, it's training season again so I'll probably be posting a lot more about this event's preparation. We have set a goal to break 2 hours at the half in November. This is a pretty lofty goal since my best is 2:15 and Karen's best is 2:09 (I think). Realistically speaking, we thought 2:05 would be more reasonable for November and shoot for 2:00 in March at Shamrock. BUT, we will see.

Tonight was our first speedwork effort. Tim, Karen's husband, has agreed to meet up with us one evening a week and lead us in some speed intervals. His goal tonight for us was to complete 6 intervals x 4 minutes at 9min/mile. Now let me put this in perspective for those of you unfamiliar with running. I am a very comfortable 10min/mile and have managed to keep about a 9:40 for very short runs of 3 miles. To trim 1 min from your pace is a pretty big deal. Well, I did it tonight.

The first 3 weren't really bad. He informed me that interval 4 and 5 would be the hardest and the last one would be easy. That was not the case for me. ALL of the last 3 were difficult with the final one being the absolute hardest. I have never breathed so hard in my entire life!!! I didn't think it would ever end or that I would catch my breath afterwards. According to "Coach", I ran all of my intervals under a 9 min pace except one at 9:01 AND I finished my last one at 8:47 (or 8:41 I can't remember). No wonder I was dying.

I feel pretty good tonight and I'm more motivated for November than ever before. My goal doesn't seem so lofty after tonight. Hip-Hip!

Amendment: Here are my official paces.
Interval 1: 8:39
Interval 2: 9:00
Interval 3: 8:59
Interval 4: 8:56
Interval 5: 8:42
Interval 6: 8:40

Weekly Lunch: Stuffed Taters

Since my life isn't overly exciting and nothing too noteworthy to report, I figured I would post about something I've gotten sort of excited about in the last few weeks. You may or may not know, but I spend one day of the weekend (mostly Sundays) fixing food for my week. I'm always in a hurry in the mornings because I love sleep, so I get everything together in the fridge that needs to be taken each day to work. I fix 5 breakfasts, 3-4 lunches, and 5 snacks. I allow myself either to grab something out once a week and/or take a leftover from dinner for lunch. Without boring you with the details, I wanted to share something that I have started to fix each week for lunch.

Training has started back up and now that fall is on the horizon (officially 16 days from this post) I will mostly be running in the afternoons. So, I need to fuel up at lunch with a nice blend of protein and carbs without putting myself into a coma for the afternoon. I got this recipe idea from Clean Eating magazine. They had published a Blue Cheese and Chicken Stuffed Potato. I'm not too wild about Blue cheese, but I do like Gorgonzola. So, I opted to try it and sub Gorgonzola to see what happens. What happens is a very filling lunch for minimal calories and a template for many variations.

Here's the skinny:

I bake 3 taters in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. To make it sort of "fancy", I spray the outside of the taters with cooking spray and sprinkle a little sea salt on the skins and place them in a baking dish. This makes the skin really yummy since you need to eat the whole tater. While the potatoes are cooking, I chop up 1 chicken breast in small 1 inch cubes and sprinkle with S&P (Salt and Pepper). I saute those pieces up until no longer pink and then remove them from the pan. Then I throw in half a red onion, sliced and half a bag of baby spinach. Let the red onion cook a little prior to adding the spinach and once the onions are soft and the spinach is wilted, take it off the heat.

Now the potatoes should be ready. Pull them out of the oven and let them cool for about 15 minutes. Then it is time to mix the "stuffing". Scoop out the potatoes leaving the skin for the shell of your meal. I try to keep the skin about 1/4 inch thick so it doesn't fall apart. In a big bowl mash the potatoes, 1 oz. cream cheese, and 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese. You can add more S&P if you like. Once that is all mixed together, throw in your chicken and veggies. Now all you do is stuff the potatoes with your mixture and cook another 15 minutes.

After they cool, I place 2 stuffed halves in a portable dish and they are ready to tote to work for lunch. All you have to do is nuke it at lunchtime.

This week I decided to change it up a bit. I added a bag of broccoli florets, chopped, and swapped the gorgonzola for a cheddar blend. The added broccoli made them super stuffed, but it's broccoli. So, I don't feel at all guilty! The beauty of this dish is the versatility of it. You can get your protein and carbs and add all the veggies you can handle. And think of the various cheeses and veggies you can add to it all not to mention any spice you like. I added garlic powder this week to the chicken.

I'm pretty excited about the potatoes this week.