My December

Phew! I once again managed to squeak through December, but only barely. Thanks for adapting to the blog hiatus-- it's now over! Here's what I was up to instead of blogging.

Working. A lot.

Studying for and taking finals.

Stress-baking.

Presenting at a research conference.

Putting up a Christmas tree.

Drinking. Duh.

Going to Mexico.

Seeing pink flamingos in the wild and flipping out. (a birder's dream!)

Attending parties.

Putting my laptop on my cat.

And a hat on my friend's dog.

Running very short distances.

And spending time with family.

Now that the bulk of the craziness is over, I'm feeling a bit more refreshed and ready to tackle the new year-- including starting training for my second marathon! More posts to follow soon; I'm back, baby.

how was your December?

Wisconsin Weekend

This summer I have spent nearly every weekend traveling. I've gone from Colorado to Lollapalooza, to Northern Michigan and now Wisconsin. All of the weekends have been great, but today was by far the most perfect day.

Today started as all Saturdays should: with a long run.

I knocked out 5 miles on the gorgeous Great River State Trail.

The trail runs right along the Mississippi River separating Minnesota and Wisconsin. It was so lovely!

5 miles done in about 50 minutes.

Next up was a tour around the big monuments of Wisconsin. My mom and I took another picture of ourselves in front of the big fish!

Certainly a change from last November!

We also saw the world's largest six pack. It's actually entirely full of barrels of beer!

Followed by an absurdly delicious tofu and roasted red pepper sandwich from the co-op.

Later we kayaked in the lake,

and enjoyed the lovely local brews.

My mom grilled up an insanely delicious dinner-- field roast veggie sausage, local sweet corn on the cob and a giant salad. Perfection.

I provided the dessert: greek yogurt cheesecake with peaches and raspberries (from jenna's recipe). It. Was. The. Bomb.

I love Wisconsin and have had the best day visiting my mom! I only wish we lived closer.

How's your weekend been?

Down With the Sickness

Continued apologies for the lack of posting lately! My life has been incredibly busy (I'm sure yours has been too!) and I promise to get back on the blogging wagon.

This weekend was Earlham graduation! I went back to campus to see my friends graduate and have a good time.

There was amazing food,

great friends

and lots of good times.

One thing that's been stressing me out lately is the marathon! With only 3 weeks to go, this week is supposed to be my peak marathon training week. Frustratingly, I've been sick for over 2 weeks now! I had a cold, then got better and ran 18 miles. After that, I got sick again and scrapped my 14 miler this weekend for a quick 5-er with BFF Kyla. I felt crappy then too!

Now today I have a scratchy voice and a cough. I took a lot of time off of running last week and am really getting frustrated! Here's what I'm going to do this week to make sure my 20 miler on Saturday is sickness-free.

-Rest: after dropping my mileage by about 50% last week, I'm going to continue to listen to my body and not push it this week. My goal is to run at least twice before the 20 miler on Saturday.

-Eat well: continuing eating nutrient-dense foods and drinking lots of water will help boost my immune system

-Get enough sleep!!

Saturday will be the 2nd of my training races for this marathon! I'll be running the 5/3rd River Bank Run 25K + 4.5 miles to make 20 for the day. I can't wait!!

How do you adjust your workouts when you're sick?

National Half Marathon Recap

At the beginning of this year I set up my running goals for 2011. First on the list: the DC National Half Marathon.

Completed!

This was my second half marathon (my first was in Detroit) and I loved every minute of it!

Friday Ariell and I made it to DC and went straight to the expo. After picking up our packets we hightailed it back to our respective accommodations for the night-- we'd been carrying around our luggage all day.

I spent the weekend with my BFF Ashton (another post about our weekend coming soon!) and I got to her apartment early. I went to the local frozen yogurt place and had a pre-race mix of pb and cheesecake froyo with chocolate and berry toppings. Yummy carbs :)

Later that night I fueled up with salad, guac, crab chips and yogurt. We went to bed super early in preparation for the race the next day.

Saturday I woke up at 5:30am, got dressed and munched on a half whole-wheat bagel thin with chunky pb.

After some very packed Metro rides, Ariell and I made it to the race just as it was starting. We jumped into a corral and crossed the start line. My only goal for this race was to keep a consistent pace and to beat my PR from Detroit.

The first few miles were kind of rough-- I was tired and it was cold. Running in a new city is fun but also a little confusing. I had no idea where we were for pretty much all of the race! Regardless, my first few miles were steady. As soon as I saw the Capitol I started to smile and pushed on.

Mile 1: 10:12

Mile 2: 9:31

Mile 3: 9:09

Mile 4: 9:30

Mile 5: 9:40

Mile 6: 10:22 (shotblok stop)

Mile 7: 10:14

One of the best parts about running DC were all of the monuments! I was constantly entertained and in awe of the beauty of the city in the morning sunshine. I took a shotblok at miles 5 and 9 and that gave me great energy to keep running through the race.

Mile 8: 9:35

Mile 9: 9:18

Mile 10: 9:22 (shotblok stop)

At mile 10 I realized just how close we were to the finish! I picked up my pace and clocked that mile in under 9:00! Sadly I couldn't keep that pace for the rest of the race so settled back into a solid cadence.

Mile 11: 8:53

Mile 12: 9:29

Mile 13: 9:00

Mile .26: 8:22 pace

Before I knew it, I sprinted through to the finish line and completed my second half marathon in 2:06:32, a 14 minute PR from Detroit!!! I also managed to run the whole race as a negative split. I immediately found Ashton and Ariell and we snapped some photos.

The worst part of the day was the Metro ride back! It was really packed and my feet were super sore. Ashton busied herself by photographing my medal and I inhaled the post-race bagel, banana and chocolate milk handed out at the finish.

After showers and a nap, Ashton and I headed out to see the cherry blossoms.

And later grabbed a giant post-race lunch of Potbelly. I had a delicious veggie sub, chips and a cookie. This meal didn't stand a chance.

Finally we celebrated and went out to an art show for the rest of the night. Wonderful.

I had such a great time at the National Half and was so happy to PR! I continually am amazed by how much I love racing. Improving my times has become fun and addicting!

Did you run the race this weekend?

Make-Ahead Meal 1: Indian Sweet Potato Hash

One of the only ways I can manage balancing work, classes, marathon training, grad school and healthy eating is by making 'Make-Ahead Meals" that can be eaten in different ways throughout the week. After browsing the blogosphere this weekend, I shopped up at Meijer and hit the kitchen tonight.

Inspired by a few different recipes, I created the most delicious meal I've had this year. Seriously. Its Indian Sweet Potato Hash.

Indian Sweet Potato Hash

Inspired by a little fancy

1/2 medium onion

1 large sweet potato

1 cup brown rice

1 small can chickpeas

15oz can diced tomatoes

Big handful spinach

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp curry powder (mild, medium or hot, to taste)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt, pepper to taste

Start by cooking the rice in a pot. In a separate skillet, sautee the onion and garlic, then add shredded sweet potato and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the entire can (including juice) of diced tomatoes along with the chickpeas. Season all of this with generous amounts of curry powder and some salt and pepper. Finally add a handful of spinach at the end to steam and provide some nutrients.

Served over rice: absolutely delicious. I'm salivating now just thinking about it!

The best thing about making this meal ahead of time is that I'm covered for lunch the rest of the week. To change it up, I can put the hash over spinach and eat it as a cold salad, heat it up with rice for the traditional meal or even wrap it in a tortilla for a curry wrap!

This meal also provides a lot of excellent nutrients, which were great for my sore legs today. Yesterday I braved the rain and tackled 10 miles while on Spring Break in Indiana.

The hills! After my speedy 9 miles with Kyla in Arkansas (elevation gain of 4 ft) I forgot how much harder it is to run in a varied environment. This ten-miler took me to an elevation gain of 398ft!

Splits:

Mile 1: 9:54

Mile 2: 9:56

Mile 3: 9:58

Mile 4: 9:32

Mile 5: 10:02

Mile 6: 9:56

Mile 7: 10:24 (100ft climb!)

Mile 8: 10:32

Mile 9: 10:04

Mile 10: 10:13

Gatorade never tasted so good.

I had a wonderful Spring Break in the South but flying back over Michigan I was so happy to be home.

Do you make meals ahead for the week?