Apples 2013

Today was this year's Girls Only Apple Trip.  For the history see 2012 trip, and 2011 with links to previous years.  2007 has great pictures.   This trip started out with the crappiest weather ever.  It has been colder in past years, but probably not more precipitation.

My Pooky Bear was absolutely determined to pick apples today.  Good thing because her determination is the only thing that got me moving.  I got in some old pants, some very warm shirts, hat and gloves, and an old coat.  We headed to Carribou to pick up caffeine for ourselves and the Qat Lady.  When we got to the Orchard we discovered that harvest season for pick your own was already over.

We went to Plan B: Wine Tasting.  Because this orchard also has grapes.  And why not?  Pooky Bear really liked the sweet wines and dessert wines.  The kinds of wines I like the most are usually Sauvignon Blancs or in that family, so I liked the least sweet wines there were.

For the next part of our day we headed in to downtown Stillwater.  We had lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the river, and then walked around.  We noticed lots of antique shops.  My Mom would love it.  We also noticed lots and lots of vacancies in the buildings.  Not sure what that's about.

We all got different things.  I am not big on apple turnovers or apple flavored donuts.  I got two bottles of wine.  In downtown Stillwater I learned that truffle oil infused salt is a thing.  I also learned 'a little goes a long way' and it's great on eggs, potatoes and popcorn.  I haven't tried it yet.  Not sure if we'll try for apples again next year or just switch the tradition to wine tasting.  It's good to have options.

Moral Dilemas - Runner Version

I was reading Miss Zippy's Post on Runner's Moral Dilemmas and my answers were too long to write in her comments.  So she gets an entire post instead.

Running a race as a bandit. For my non-runner friends, this means jumping in a race at the start and running the whole thing without a bib and not paying the entry fee. Generally against this practice since entry fees actually pay for things like cops to provide traffic control for the course, and the races up here are all run by non-profits and places I like to see my money go to support.

Taking food from the finish line for family/friends who didn't complete the course.  I have no idea.  I imagine my feelings about this would change if I have kids.

Selling of buying a bib on Craig's List or similar.  Miss Zippy had never met anyone who'd done it.  I have done it.  Actually a friend made the transaction but it was for two bibs and I definitely benefited.  See here for more information.  The deal on this is that it works as long as no one is trying to run a Boston Qualifying time, win an age group, or do something where your identity really matters.  At least in my experience.  The race I did it, I think wasn't even chip timed.

Pacing a friend, even if you aren't registered.  Hell yes.  See here for details.  For my non-running friends, this is different than running as a bandit since most pacers don't stay on the course the whole time and also try not to take food or water that's there for the racers.  This is actually a practice at most Ultra distance races.  Most marathons have rules against pacers without a bib but I've encountered different levels of enforcement at different races.

Wearing a race shirt from a race I didn't complete.  As long as it's for a distance I can complete, I don't care.  I'd feel crazy guilty wearing an IronMan or 100-mile race shirt.  Got a spare marathon or 13.1 shirt?  Bring it on.

Complaining to the Race Director because my Garmin registered the course as long.  First off, no complaining.  If it was a brand new course and my GPS was crazy off, I might mention it to the race director.  Starting lines get put in the wrong place more than you'd think.  For Twin Cities my GPS system registered the marathon as 26.5 miles instead of 26.2.  I have a strong suspicion it's because I didn't run the tangents as well as I should in a couple places and I probably did run long.  That course is legit. 

Thanks again to MissZippy because this was a fun set of questions!

Bryant Ave Bikeway

I was on the Bryant Ave Bikeway today.  It's after the marathon so I can ride my bike again.  The bikeway is a few years old now and hilariously starting to show it's age.  Check out this picture I took from a ride last year compared to the one I took today.

Those green bike sharrows are really starting to wear down.  It's sort of okay. By now most of the drivers understand that there's tons of bikes on this road.  Drivers seem to mostly avoid the road if they can, or stay on it for as short a time as possible when they do need to drive on it.  Otherwise the road is in about the same condition as some of the other bike roads.  It'd be nice if it could be repaved, smoothed out a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.  More pictures form today's ride in another post...

Sunday Run and Sunday Bike Ride

Today marks 365 days of moving (running) at least a mile per day.  Tomorrow marks decision day about keeping the streak alive but that's another story.  The run today was nice and relaxed. I wanted to do all 4 miles in my vibrams so I was most focused on form and not caring about speed.  There were crazy tons of sticks falling down on the path, particularly from the cottonwoods, so that made the run interesting.

I came home and had some lunch and sat around on the couch for a few minutes.  I was motivated by the fantastic weather to head back outside on my bike.  Lake Cedar was calling me. I got my bike and my camera and headed out. I did one of my favorite routes: the River Lake Greenway to Bryant Ave Bike Way, along the Greenway to Kenilworth Trail and Cedar Lake.  I came back by Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet.  And took lots and lots of pictures along the way.

Thoughts on running every day for a year

On October 14, 2012  I made this little plan to run every day at least until the end of 2012.  It had to do with participating in a fitness challenge that ultimately didn't work out, but the run every day thing stayed.  Then after the end of 2012, I was all "if I go 14 more days, then that's 3 months solid" and then I was all "I wonder if I can keep going" and by the time I got to six months it was "I have to see if I can make it a year".  On Sunday October 13, 2013, I ran a nice and easy 4-miler in my vibrams to solidify 365 days of running without missing a day.  And I was not sure what to do next.  Like, my goal was to go for a year, now I did that.  Do I deliberately stop?  What do I do?  Dad's only advice was "you'll know the right thing to do".

Imagine my surprise when Monday morning rolled around and I'm out there running a quick 2-miles before work.  What the hell has happened to me?  Today I felt like crap for a number of reasons and was just like "well, a year and a day, that's good, maybe today I should kill the streak?"  Nope.  I did another 2 miles after work.  I already have a running date for tomorrow.  I guess I'm going to keep going for a while.

I talked about what I'd learned after six months of running every day.  Now I'm obviously thinking about all the stuff I've learned over the past year, and I why I want to keep going, at least for now.

Short distances and quick workouts are not junk miles.  Miles add up, even one at a time.  This one I probably learned the quickest and had reinforced the most often.  When I look back at what I did, at least half of my running days were one or two mile days.  Initially there was some physical benefit to these quick runs as it helped change the speed at which I ran.  Perhaps the greatest long term benefit to those runs was the mental benefit, the determination and patience those things teach.  Coming home grumpy and tired, running in the dark or snow or rain was the last thing I wanted.  Actually most of the time.  It takes determination and focus, and sometimes patience to go out for a run feeling like that.  It taught me a lot about sticking with things that seem hard at first because every time I'd end those runs feeling better than when I started.

There was never a time I felt crappy or ashamed for missing a workout, and I never felt ashamed to just do one mile. Looking back at my logs over the years, there's often a stretch of days where I wouldn't work out at all.  Usually it would coincide with getting my period and I would hurt and be sleepy all that time, making it even more awful.  I haven't achieved quite that level of sloth in the past year.  Hey, I worked out at least 10 minutes per day.  It helped my physical health a lot.  My periods are much less painful when I can keep running.  Running keeps my hormones in better balance, and it also makes the pain medication work better.  I don't know why but my doctor says so too.  But more importantly, after those several days of not working out, it would be hard to get started again.  This year, I never felt like that.  I never got super discouraged or too far away from running which was excellent.

I get to run everywhere.  Running on vacations can be a blast.  This was what I thought would be the hardest when I decided to try for this streak.  It's also what I fear will eventually end the streak one day: I'll be on a vacation somewhere I can't run.  For now, it's been the biggest and best surprise.  Running on vacations is freaking awesome.  Running in Florida on a beach in February was a blast.  See the follow up, logistics of exercise on vacation here.  But easily the best vacation for running ever was Running in Washington DC and Virginia. 

Point of interest, there is a Running Streak Association but I haven't registered with them and not really planning on it at the moment.  When I started this running thing last year, my definitions were a bit looser than the streak's rules, specifically there were a couple days my workouts were on the elliptical and a couple track workouts where I might not have run 1 mile together, although cumulatively was around 4 or 5 miles for the workout.  I'm not quite when I had that corrected, but if I ever register with these guys I'd have to use a slightly different start date, probably around December 1 just to be safe and honest. 

Productivity Saturday

This was a super productive Saturday.  I went on my first post-marathon run.  I went to Zumba.  I shopped at the Farmer's Market and at the Co-op.  I made Nathan and I omelletes for lunch.  Then I cooked all afternoon.  It's Post-marathon cleanse week, so I'm making all my own food.  Here's what I made today:

• Vegetarian Lentil Burgers
• Roast Potatoes.  One of the only legit starches or carbs during cleanse week.
• Roasted Plantains.  Way more awesome than I expected and I liked it much better than frying.
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts.  Om nom nom nom nom.
• Homemade Museli oats are the other legit starch and carb for the week
• Tangy Cauliflower Salad.  It freezes better than you'd expect and can be eaten warm or cold.
• Roasted Broccoli.  Mine did not have Parmesan during roasting because cheese does not freeze well.  Nor is it allowed during cleanse week. Sigh.
• Vegetarian Collard Greens.  Not quite the same without bacon but I try.
• Sesame Kale Salad.  Equally om nom nom nom nom.

After cooking all afternoon I had a couple friends over for dinner. We had the lentil burgers, roasted plantains (I have got to remember those), collars, and avocado that I did almost nothing with.

To complete the night, I made a window.  Sort of.  I work with a lady who has an interior office and is always wanting a window.  Nathan had a mirror designed like a window.  My Pooky Bear gave me some fabric and taught me how to make little curtains.  Tonight was fabrication night.  It took nowhere near as long as I'd expected and it was pretty fun.  Steam a seam is an awesome product.  Even I could do it. The doodle on the card was inspired by a story Nathan told me about a past co-worker of his who doodled all the time.

To complete the productivity - this is the third blog post I've written tonight.  I'd link to the other two but they're not published yet and I don't know how.  I'll add that learning to productivity for another day.

Mom's Banana Bread

Since I was doing nothing on Friday, I decided I wanted to make some banana bread, in advance of Cleanse Week.  More on that later.  I had a minor panic attack when I went to look for the recipe and couldn't find it.  I even swore at one point that I'd taken pictures of the recipe because the recipe card is so well used I imagine it will disintegrate in my hands at any moment.  It took me a while to realize the recipe had fallen out of the back of the drawer into the space below.  Phew!  But now I really am photographing it and writing a blog post so if I ever lose it in the future, I have a backup. 

Mom can make this the most moist and awesome thing ever.  Even with wholewheat flower and no sugar.  It's the honey and the applesauce that does it.  No joke.  Also, isn't Mom's handwriting awesome?

Ingredients:
1 C Mashed bananas (3 medium bananas)
1/3 C Oil or 1/3 C Applesauce
1/2 C Honey
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1/4 C hot water
1/2 C chopped nuts (walnuts are good)

Mom's directions say:
Beat Oil and Honey
Add eggs
Stir in bananas
Add dry ingredients mixing with hot water
Stir until smooth
Bake in a greased 9x5x3 pan at 325* for 55-60 minutes
Cool on a wire rack

Liz says:
Put all ingredients except nuts in a food processor.
Turn on the food processor, mix until smooth.
Add nuts and stir.  I almost always leave nuts out because I forget to buy them.
Bake in a greased 9x5x3 pan at 325* for 55-60 minutes
Cool on a wire rack

Running Post Marathon - Easy 4

Marathon recovery is roughly complete.  I had to keep running this week, just a mile per day, to keep the running streak alive.  Since it's been six days and I was ready to get out and move, I decided to head out on a real run today.  The thing people don't understand is that feeling of losing all fitness ever after a marathon.  I always feel like I have to start over at zero (it's not really true), like I've lost all endurance for distance.  Staring to run again after a marathon is always interesting. I picked a nice easy 4 mile route along the Greenway before Zumba.

Today I wanted to move.  I wound up running each mile faster than the last.  By the time I got done, everything felt strong and fun.  I was kind of mad at my GPS for telling me I could stop.  The Greenway was a popular place to be today.  It was nice and cool and the colors are starting to change.  Although, it's not really winter or late fall yet because we're still in high construction season...

The Post Marathon "I Don't Know What To DO With Myself"

I'm in the throws of the Post Marathon "what the heck do I do with my time?" feeling.  I keep coming up with things to entertain myself, and keep nixing them because I need to sit still and do nothing whilst I recover.  Add on top of that I got sick on Monday, and took off work both Tuesday and today.  This is not the lactic acid shuffle; this was like food wont go in my stomach.  Awesome.

Short term goals:  I am still running at least a mile every day.  The day after the marathon felt like knives in my quads for the first block. Why am I so crazy?  Because Oct 13 marks 365 days of running/moving at least a mile every day and I refuse to give up one week before the end.  Three more days.  I don't think I'll keep the running going every day after that, but who knows. I am also planning on another post marathon cleanse diet but opting in favor of waiting until I am healthy enough to both cook and eat the food on the diet.  Right now my stomach is protesting most forms of sustenance.

Medium term goals: There's always Dreidel Dash.  I'm planning on running the 10K and then cheering my heart out for the 5K runners.  I will probably get to training for that in a few weeks but I never take this race seriously in terms of training.  Sigh.

Long term goals: I want to do a triathlon next year.  Correction: a friend wants to do a triathlon next summer and I thought it sounded like a good idea.  It's a sprint distance.  I just read the rules and everything looks serious but it could be really fun.  Other than that, maybe some half marathons? Three Way Challenge again? 

Other things: I want to get back into Circuit Classes.  After a wild summer and a change in teachers, then marathon tapering, I totally abandoned the class.  I hear there's a regular teacher now and the class is hitting its stride again.  I also want to get a heart rate monitor and use it more in my training.  Also, maybe if I need a goal this winter it will be around losing weight instead of race training.  That could keep me out of trouble for a long time.

In closing, a couple more pictures from Sunday, one look of death and one look of relief.

In Pictures - Twin Cities Marathon: The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America

At the start line. On the left is taken about 7am, as the 10-mile race is starting and no one running the marathon wants to be outside. Note there are no rain clouds in the sky. That didn't last long.

It's hard to explain what happens in the Metrodome before the start of the race. It's a lot of resting and talking. I ran into a friend there and we chatted and it was excellent. On the right is at the starting line. I'm thinking "I'm not awake yet, so I don't really care what's about to happen."

Two very important reasons I actually finished the race and felt good, even though I had a blow up in the middle somewhere. Thanks again. You kept me smiling the whole way.

Good. Let's move on from marathons to a new challenge. Next year, I either want to run in the 10-miler, or I want to sit out on the course and cheer the entire time runners are going by. I want to have a camp chair and be sitting in it when the wheelers go by, and not go home until the sag wagon sweeps by and the roads re-open. Depending on the part of the course, I could probably do both.

21 Days of Planks

I decided somewhere along my 21-mile run last week that I should start doing planks to keep up my core strength until race day.   I actually planked a bit during that run while I was waiting for my friend to meet me for the last 4 miles of the run.  But then I forgot yesterday.  So 21-days of planking starts today.  I'm hopeful that I can find some creative planking workouts in the next 3 weeks to keep myself entertained.

Day 1 - 1:30 plank.  Fortress Around Your Heart is a great song but totally sucks to hold a plank to it. 
Day 2 - 1:30 plank with some alligator push-up legs.  Turns out my hips are not so flexible.
Day 3 - 1:30 plank on the cold ass concrete.  That was a mistake. Mi did her planks with me and asked if I thought we looked silly.  No sillier than someone laying on their couch all day doing nothing.
Day 4 - 1:30 plank on the concrete.  Thankfully not cold and way less muddy than the grass.  There was a rock in my shoe.
Day 5 - 1:50 planking, mostly side-middle-side plank repetitions, in the grass outside the gym after a run. 
Day 6 - 1:40 plank.  Planking in socks on a carpet does not work well.  Lesson learned.
Day 7 - 2:00 of side-middle-side (or side to side) planks.  I do them with staggered feet, not stacked, but I've decided it' still legit.
Day 8 - 2:00 plank after a 12-mile run.  I've determined the best outdoor plank position is feet on the concrete and hands in the grass.
Day 9 - 2:00 plank after a quick 1 mile run.  Planks are getting easier to hold.  Also, don't plank after a beer.
Day 10 - 2:00 plank after a quick run at the gym.
Day 11 - 2:00 plank after a seven mile run.  Hands in the dirt!  Getting better at holding a regular plank and holding still.
Day 12 - 2:15 plank after an easy run.  Seriously thought I was going to collapse.  Getting stronger!
Day 13 - 2:15 plank after a quick 1-mile run.  It's an off day.
Day 14 - 2:30 plank in my hallway when I got home from Zumba. It's raining outside.
Day 15 - 2:30 plank after a 10 mile run. Six days left!
Day 16 - 2:45 plank after a quick 1 mile run. (Yes, that's 2:45 of planking.)
Day 17- 2:45 plank after a 5 mile run with Mi.  Four days left!
Day 18 - 3:00 plank.  3 minutes!
Day 19 - 3:00 plank after a 1 mile run. Not long now!
Day 20 - 3:00 of plank after a 1 mile run.  I day left.
Day 21 - 3:00 of plank before I make spaghetti for everyone.  Done!

To do this, I did try to find some interesting plank workouts.  I wound up focusing on time in the plank, and side planks, and just trying to make it longer.  It was quite easy to bang out the 90 second and 2 minute planks.  The 3 minute planks are ridiculous.  If I do this again and go for longer time, I think I'd do it a bit differently, like three sets of a 90 second plank instead of one plank for three minutes.  I didn't expect to be able to hold a plank for 3 minutes when I started this.  Effortless is too strong of a word, but I do believe I can do it, which makes it somewhat easier.

If you want to plank but holding out one plank for minutes at a time isn't for you, try these workouts instead.

• 12 Minute Full Body Plank Workout with nice pictures to demonstrate the moves.
• FitSugar Plank Workout.  It's a slide show.  Took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize that.
• Pumps and Iron Plank Workout.  Planks on the beach must hurt less.  Right?
• 8 Minute Plank Workout.  This is one is probably the next one I'll try.

How to Taper!

What am I doing the week before the marathon?  I'm going nuts okay.  Let's just be real about that.  This year I'm happily not freaking out about fitness.  I'm feeling like I have a decent race plan and several decent contingency plans.  One of the awesome things about OCD is I can freak out at the drop of a hat over things that aren't real anyways.  I'm learning to deal.

Sunday - I ran my favorite 10-mile route and then had a nice long stretch.
Monday - I did a quick 1 mile run to keep the running streak alive.
Today - I had a nice 5 mile run with Running Neighbor.  She showed me some legit trails near our house which I couldn't believe.  One day when I'm not taperingI want to go back and run like hell on them.

I have one more fun run with a friend this week.  I also plan to eat pasta and carbs like they're going out of style, stretch a lot, and relax.  I'll also look at the weather obsessively and hope the leaves turn an awesome color by Sunday.  They are well on their way.

Tonight, in favor of stretching, I got out my foam roller for a little session.  I have found the most painful foam rolling exercise on the planet.  It's not my IT band either, although that one always hurts.  Have you ever tried to roll out a hip flexor?  Holy mother of god.  I think I saw the light.  Watch the video and try for yourself.