Cooking Monday

Productivity Monday turned into just "Cooking Monday" because I have so much stuff from the CSA boxes.

Pepitas.  I haven't finished this one, because the seeds will have to dry out over night.  This page had the best explanation for how to get the gunk and the seeds separated.

Cilantro Chutney is one of my favorite sides of all time when I get Indian food.  Mine didn't turn out quite as good as it is in the restaurant, but the two jalapeño peppers I used did capture the spicy quite well.

Thai Pumpkin Soup.  I really used this recipe as inspiration instead of following it to the letter.  I had 2 spaghetti squash and 2 acorn squash instead of pumpkin.  I had yellow curry paste instead of red.  And I had now coriander chutney instead of fresh cilantro.

Tomato Lentil Soup. Again, this recipe is inspiration, not the final story. I've made my version of this a few times.  It involves the tomatoes from the CSA box, onions, red lentils, coconut milk and an immersion blender.

PS - the dishes are done.

TC 10 Mile - 3 Weeks to Go

Sunday
Planned: Long Run
Actual: 12.65 miles.  This was a rough run.  I kept the heart rate in check mostly but it was slower than I wanted.  Perhaps I couldn't made better decisions last night regarding nutrition and fluid intake?

Monday
Planned: Hills or trails
Actual: 3.02 miles, little neighborhood hill route.  Apparently the bad decisions regarding nutrition and fluid continue.  I meant to do a longer

Tuesday
Planned: Low heart rate run, lift weights
Actual: 3.73 miles, Avg HR 138.  15 mins elliptical.  TRX/Kettlebell class. I got started a bit late because work was trying to win today, so I didn't spend as much time on the elliptical as normal.

Wednesday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.22 miles.

Thursday
Planned: 6-10 miles.  (I used to make this 8-10 miles and that seemed to be setting myself up for failure.)
Actual: Laid in bed instead of running.  Eventually did 1.23 miles.

Friday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.21 miles run, 3.5 miles walk with a friend.

Saturday
Planned: Constant speed 20 mins, 5 recover; 15 mins, 4 recover; 10 mins
Actual: 20 mins at 10:37 pace (this was a mistake); 15 mins at 11:12 pace; 10 mins at 11:25 pace including that massive hill at the end.  I ran the first 20 mins by feel.  Mistake because I took it out way too fast, and it made it hard to hold the pace at the end.  All valuable lessons for race day.

Best Running Advice

Tuesday's on The Run topic really struck a chord with me this time.

What's the best running advice you ever received?
"Don't ever let anyone make you feel like a half marathon is half a race"  

In running there's such a thing of "oh, you just ran a half, when are you going to train for a full marathon" as if the effort to get in race shape for a half marathon is somehow half as meaningful, or half as much work as training for a 26.2 mile course.  For shame!

I often quoted this to my friend when we were practicing for a walking half marathon.  I kept telling her people are going to ask her when she'll be ready to do a full marathon.  My advise was to smack anyone who ever said that to her.  To my knowledge she hasn't had to crack any heads yet, but I'm sure the day is coming.

TC 10 Mile - 4 Weeks to Go

This is a Step Back Week.  It was perfectly timed to coincide with my parents visit.  I am so glad I didn't have to fit in a long run while they were here.

Sunday
Planned: Low mileage, low HR
Actual: 4.15 miles, Avg HR 133 (though honestly the HR was all over the place).  Bonus walk around Lake Harriet with the parents.

Monday
Planned: Low mileage, low HR
Actual: 4.15 miles with a friend.  This was a speedier run than I had planned, but I loved the company.  Zumba in the evening with Mom.

Tuesday
Planned: Low HR run, lift weights
Actual: 1.21 miles running, Avg HR 134.  60 mins elliptical.  TRX/Kettlebell class.  Foam roll. The trainer introduced the rowing machine today.  It was much harder the way she does it than the way I'd been doing it.

Wednesday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.21 miles, Avg HR 132.  I just ran a 12:45 mile with a heart rate below 140! 

Thursday
Planned: 6+ miles
Actual: 4.12 miles.  So many excuses in my head for doing a short run.  But really, it was a good run and I'm okay with it.

Friday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.2 miles run.  Bonus walk at Palmer Lake with a friend. We saw a turtle and called it our spirit animal.

Saturday
Planned: Constant speed 3x10 Mins, 4 mins recovery
Actual: Completed.  Laps were at 10:56, 10:59 and 10:52.  I found myself liking this workout a lot.  Bonus walk at Lake Calhoun with a friend.  Today we saw an Eagle and said that was our spirit animal.

TC 10 Mile - 5 Weeks to Go

Sunday
Planned: Long Run
Actual: 10.91 mile run, Celebrating Franklin Ave Bridge and W River Parkway finally being done with construction.  20 mins kettle bells.  10 mins stretching.  I wanted a run just a bit longer than this route.  Since mileage was a little less, I went a bit harder with the weights.

Monday
Planned: Hills or trails
Actual: 6.61 miles, 50th/Lyndale route.  There were a lot of people out today, biking with kids and walking dogs.  I was glad for the parts of this route that were nowhere near the creek and therefore way less crowded.

Tuesday
Planned: Low heart rate run, lift weights  (am now realizing this has to happen in the morning because I have family coming into town in the evening)
Actual: 2.35 miles treadmill run.

Wednesday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 5.11 miles low heart rate run, Avg HR 138.  28 mins body weight finisher.  Tuesday and Wednesday got flip flopped this week.  I couldn't go to the gym this morning (where the actual weights are), so I did something else.
4X 15 push ups, 15 calf raises each leg, 25 squats, 25 single leg dead lifts each leg; then walking leg raises, walking bicycles, and that twisty motion that I don't have a name for.  The 4 sets of the first stuff was awful.  Never again do I want to do 25 single leg dead lifts per leg 4 times through.  That was forever long.
Update from days later: 4x25 single led dead lifts/leg is too high volume, even without weights.  My ham strings were shot for several days. 

Thursday
Planned: 8-10 miles
Actual: 5.75 miles (or so, GPS had an issue).  This was a hot, and not purposefully high heart rate run.  I was glad when it was over.

Friday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.24 miles in the cool morning weather.  Excellent.

Saturday
Planned: Pick speed work or do an easy run
Actual: 4.15 miles easy. It was cool enough I wanted to run, but I was exhausted and didn't feel like speed work.

Long Run Sunday - welcome back W River Pkwy and Franklin Ave Bridge

Plan: Get up when the alarm goes off.  I thought if that happened, everything else would be fine.

Route: Celebrate W River Parkway reopening after two years of being closed, and Franklin Ave bridge reopening after being closed all freaking summer.

Weather: Low 60s and slightly humid to start.  Mid 60s to finish.  I saw a girl wearing a long sleeve shirt when I was running, and I thought, I'd be okay with that.  It was glorious.

Execution:  The main point of this run was to check out the early parts of the 10 mile course and get some practice on the hill up to Franklin Ave.  Makes sense when you see the elevation profile right?  I was really pleased with this run.  Heart rate was low until I needed to, um, stop for a moment. After that I just wanted to be done.  That was the last 1.5 miles so it was cool.  The run was a mile or two shorter than I wanted, route options being what they were.  So when I got back to the gym, I did a few sets of kettle bell lifts, and even practiced squatting with that big fat bar.

Nutrition: I had a few sips of water.  I had chews at miles 4 and 7. Only a couple chews each time.  Note to me for race day - don't drink or eat too much.  This is how you get bloated and sick.

Bonus: The rest of the day I did all of the things, including cooking

• Homemade tomato soup
• Homemade muesli
• Lentil and couscous salad
• Summer Squash Salad
• Laundry
• Dusted/cleaned living room
• Dusted/cleaned bedroom
• Cleaned the kitchen - this almost deserves its own post
• Cleaned the bathroom
• Dinner at the Lowbrow with friends. 
• Watched US Open - Nadal WTF?!?; Monfis - way to go; Sock - shocked you won that set, way to go also

TC 10 Mile - 6 Weeks to go

This is what training while not having good mental health looks like.

Sunday
Planned: Long Run Hill Run
Actual: 5.25 miles of my creek/48/46/44th hill run route.  At 4:48am.  I swapped long run and hill run days this week, so that I could cram in the State Fair on Sunday.

Monday
Planned: Hill Run Long Run
Actual: 11.32 miles, interval run.  No one is more surprised this actually happened than me.

Tuesday
Planned: Low HR run, lift weights
Actual: 1.20 miles.  I felt like crap.

Wednesday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 5.2 miles.  15 mins kettle bells.  This doesn't totally make up for yesterday, but it is a step  in the right direction.  PS - I've accepted what kind of person I am and set my alarm for a late wake up call. That 8-10 miles is happening in the afternoon tomorrow.

Thursday
Planned: 8-10 miles
Actual: 4.1 miles at the end of the day, and it was a miracle that I got that far.  Go ahead, ask me how I'm doing.

Friday
Planned: 1 mile run
Actual: 1.23 miles.  Bonus walk around Palmer Lake with a friend.

Saturday
Planned: W/u; Constant speed 20mins, 5 mins recover; 15 mins, 4 mins recover; 10 mins; c/d
Actual:

• 20 mins at 11:09 pace 
• 15 mins at 11:07 pace
• 10 mins at 11:56 pace. 

I was happy with the first two efforts and exhausted by the last effort which involved a fairly big hill.  I did the run much more by effort than by pace.  I was glad I didn't go out too hard, but also having second thoughts about my goal race pace.