Running Cincinnati

Thursday also known as Halloween I woke up at the crack of dawn and ran 7 miles.  Before the sun came up.  In the cold.  And I had to stop to go to the bathroom.   In a dark port-o-potty.  It was an auspicious start to the day.

I had to get the run in because I had a flight at a weird time of the day.  The Minneapolis airport was packed.  The flight was bumpy but we can't blame changes in air pressure on the pilots, much as we try.  When I got home, we hit Skyline and then drove to Portsmouth to see Grandma for the night.  In an hilarious turn of events, Grandma's Christmas decorations are already up.  I promise you, it wasn't her idea.

Friday we came home from Grandma's.  I went for a Cincinnati style hill run around lunch time.  Hills.  Mom and I went to a restaurant she likes but Dad won't go to.  Then we saw Ault Park and the Krohn Conservatory.  In the evening we headed over to the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for dinner and a show for my uncle's birthday.  Also, Qat Lady would want me to tell you that I saw Marge.

Saturday I went for a run first thing.  This was my shortest run of the trip.  It was in the dark too.  It's a long story why I went to a training for CEUs while on my vacation, but that training necessitated an early run.  But again, I got to sit with Marge all morning and also wrangled a second Skyline trip out of the deal.  Saturday afternoon was a nephew's birthday party.  You know I got to play with Legos *ahem* help the nephews play with Legos and there was also spaghetti.

Sunday was maybe my favorite day of the trip.  It started with my longest run of the trip, a bit over five miles.  I saw a deer on the run.  It should be noted I actually saw deer in the middle of the city three of the five days I was in town.  WTF.  I didn't really have any time goals or anything else in mind, just to have a good time.  So I was beyond thrilled when I saw the pace I busted out for the last mile.  Downhill running really is my thing.
After the run I made my parents fruit crepes for breakfast.  And then as a present to me, they let me keep ESPN 2 on the TV while we ate so I could watch the New York City Marathon.  Before the end of the race, we left for coffee and to see one of my cousins and her partner.  I may have scored some company for a half marathon to be named later!  Then I got to see a friend from when I lived in Cincinnati and her son who is about a year old and possibly the cutest thing currently under 1 year old on the planet.  My friend has one of my favorite smiles on the planet as well.  I left around nap time and headed home.  Mom and Dad and I took a walk around the neighborhood and finished the night with a trip to a Thai Restaurant I like a lot.  It would be more fair to say I love the food and find the service to be hit and miss.  Sunday night was a miss.  See if you can spot the deer in the picture below. 
  

Monday I woke up and cooked Dad breakfast.  Mom had to go to work so she didn't get to play.  We hung out for a bit and then I headed to the airport.  TSA welcomed me to the PreCheck line which is the most wonderful place on earth.  I didn't even have to take off my shoes!  The flight home was a smaller plane but thankfully a bit smoother than the ride out.  Once I got home I did some cleaning and laundry.  I decided it would be a good idea to go for a run and wind up at Zumba which is a bit over a mile away on Monday nights. Zumba was a blast and then I scored a ride home from a friend. Since the time changed and we're having winter soon, I wont run in daylight for the next six months.  This is what all of my running pictures will look like.

Wordless - River view

Wordless: fun

Wordless: flowers

Wordless - Party Time

Wordless: fall colors

Wordless: early Christmas

A whole different kind of "seen on my run"

Today was a lazy Sunday.  Excellent.  I woke up, lounged about, hit up the farmers market and, came back and watched mindless television all day.   By mindless television I mean, of course, Ice Road Truckers.  I made a batch of Roasted Brussels Sprouts  (Nine cups, that should hold me at least a day or two).  And a batch of collard greens with onions.

I'd debated all day about how far to run.  Ultimately I was feeling tired and decided that even though a five mile run would be lovely, I should probably just give it a rest.  I ran a quick two-mile route out and back from home with an absurd number of hills for a course so short.  I chose the Vibrams because chances to wear those guys outside will be few and far between for a while now.  On the way back, I found some serious stuff in the road, enough that I went back to pick it up.  You can all thank me for saving your tires now.

Saturday Five Miles

I'd originally meant to do 6 miles this morning.  I had a sad combination of forgetting my post-run nutrition and getting to the gym a few minutes later than expected.  I decided I'd turn it into "about five miles" and not be so fussy about making my mileage end in zero.  Temps were supposedly 40* but actually in the 30s somewhere and it was windier than I would've liked. Once I got warmed up (literally), everything was fine and I just ran along feeling my pace and feeling my legs and enjoying myself.

Saturday is obviously Zumba day and I had to get back in time, which is why I didn't go all six miles.  I love being done with the marathon and heading out for runs because I like to, not for training.,  After Zumba, we went to the last day of the outdoor Farmer's Market.  Sob.  I had a zeppole and coffee and most of the rest of the team enjoyed the Arepas.  They were happy to hear the Arepa truck people are building a brick and mortar restaurant, so maybe we wont have to wait until next year to have their food again.  Can you tell it was cold today?

TIL - My ears are different sizes

Yesterday when I headed out for my run, I opted for a music assisted workout. My most used pair of ear buds fell apart at the marathon.  Literally, one of the plastic ear hooks came off.  So now, I'm using the other good pair of ear buds I own, these guys. 

As you can see from this older post, they come with six different size options for the inserts. 
I'd had some discomfort in my left ear for a while, so I tried an experiment of different size inserts for different ears.  I went one size smaller in the left ear.  I'm not sure I went small enough.  I'm going to keep experimenting, but it's possible I'll need to be two sizes smaller in my left ear than my right.  Wild.

It was worth the experimentation because the playlist yesterday absolutely killed it.  Usually I prefer music in the Pitbull, FUN, Pink or Lady Gaga flavors.  But yesterday I really wanted some loud, hard rock music and I got exactly what I wanted.  I put this together as a possible playlist for part of the marathon and really only got to hear what a good job I did now.

Things Runners Understand - Clothing and Pictures

Things runners understand:

• Running in my good running gear always makes a run better.
• Stopping to take a picture will monkey with my overall workout pace and time, and that's okay.  Sigh.

I hit the trails sort of trails for a five mile run today.  I was wearing some of my favorite running gear ever.  ProCompression and 2XU have special places in my heart.  I meant to keep this a slow easy workout since I am meeting friends later tonight to run again.  Yes on a Friday.  Yes at 8pm.  No, it wasn't my idea.  I'm not sure what tonight's workout holds.  I think there's going to be several people there and I've only ever run with one of them before, so Iwanted to make sure I took care of what I needed in case tonight isn't what I expect.

This afternoon run turned out to be perfect.  It was one of those where I just went by feel, trying to keep my heart rate low and enjoy myself, enjoy the scenery and have fun.

Post Marathon Cleanse Diet - Second Time's the Charm?

Last year I reluctantly tried this cleanse diet after my marathon.  It wasn't my favorite thing ever and I was thrilled when the week was up and I could add things back into my diet like spaghetti and bread.  And butter.  And meat.  Bacon!  And eggs.  Here's a rundown of shopping and the diet, and a sample menu from one day. The only thing that really stuck last year was stopping the yogurt and switching to non-sweetened almond milk with my breakfast muesli.

This year I'd experienced the typical marathon-taper/weight gain conundrum.  Once I ate enough to recover from the race and feel like I could move again, I decided a cleanse diet might be the way to go, just to kick start the eating proper portions and healthy foods.  I have no idea why I wanted to do this again.  I headed off to the farmers market where I bought an impressive amount of fresh veggies.  I came home and cooked all day.  All day.   See this post for a list of recipes.
Below are the rules.  And a link to the trainers that devised this torture. I still remember....

Things that worked better this year

• I had no diet soda at all during the cleanse.  That was definitely not a goal when I started and I was shocked when I realized it at the end of the week.
• I ate more eggs than last year on the cleanse.  Eggs are good and wonderful.
• I cooked food ahead of time so I could always head to the freezer or the fridge and pull something out.
• Cocoa powder is not sweetened (or at least the kind I buy), and there for totally legit for the cleanse.
• I found reliable sources of protein including eggs, sushi and I finally have a good relationship with protein powder.

The cleanse lasted a week and I've totally survived it now.   I've added a few carbs back into my life, and a small amount of diet soda from time to time.  You know I added butter and alcohol and bacon back into my diet right? I'm still following the rules of the cleanse about 60% of the time.   It's shocked me that I just sort of kept it going. The biggest thing was I really liked the egg dishes I'd make for breakfast.  So I kept it up.

After the cleanse, I'd just planned to use the Lose It app and continue trying to slim down a bit.  I started trying to figure out what to eat and it turns out a plate full of vegetables is super low in calories.  Who knew?

Changes I've noticed following the cleanse this time around are having potatoes with my bacon and eggs instead of bread and butter.  That's a huge calorie saver right there.  I cut out diet soda more than I expected, drinking more coffee in the morning for a caffeine fix.  When I have pasta I have half a serving and then a side of veggies.  To be clear, I'm talking about half of the serving size I'd eat before this started.  I can only tolerate all of these changes because I've massively dialed back the exercise.  If I was still doing crazy long runs, I don't think I could live without the carbs.  Still, bring on the weight loss before the holidays please.

My stomach is a ball of fury and hate

From time to time, my stomach just goes a bit nuts.  It doesn't seem to be related to an illness (not running a fever, not otherwise sick), nor is it the same as the "not eating" when I'm going mentally crazy although that's it's own barrel of fun.  Nope, from time to time my stomach just does not accept food.  Today, man, was just one of those days.

Back story is I did another post-marathon cleanse, sort of like I did last year.  With actually maybe more compliance which is surprising.  To celebrate being done, I had some hard cider on Saturday night.  And my stomach went into attack mode.  I woke up at 5am feeling honest to god hungover, which shouldn't be possible from 20 oz of cider.  I almost cancelled apples.  I was that hard up.  Instead I tried a little wheat cereal, a little coffee, and then started to feel better.  Probably the wine tasting didn't help because by lunch again, I had a tenuous relationship with food.

The only thing that really helped my stomach today was running.  After apples/wine tasting/shopping, I had to go to the gym.  I need to get to 12 visits to get the discount and I've missed a few days this month.  At first I was going to run a mile, but I had my music on so I figured I'd run two and then I was feeling good so I kept going for a total of four miles.  It just kept feeling good. That was a surprise.  Shortly after I stopped, my stomach rebelled and it was clear that I'd never eat again.  Sigh.

See if you can spot where I had to pause the workout and briefly make peace with my stomach.  Hint: it was three laps before the workout was over.

The playlist for today's workout definitely helped.  It's one I put together for the marathon but ultimately didn't use that day. Yes, I have a special relationship with Pitbull. I am not ashamed.