Sunday Runday

Completed my longest run yet this morning – 15.39k/1:37:37mins (10:13min/mile pace)! I wanted to make sure to get one last big long run in before I start dialling it back a bit before the race. I will do another long run next weekend but more likely closer to 10k. I am super proud of myself for running this morning since I was not in the mood at all, despite the beautiful weather, and had to force myself to put my running shoes on. Once I was outside and starting running though, I always change my mind. I ran a long the usual route I do at home towards Indian Point but made it much farther than usual. There were some gorgeous (not to mention HUGE!) houses out there and the views were incredible. I had my running playlist with me, my favourite running son being Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams Come True. It seriously amps me up which is hilarious and is a perfect pace to run too :D I'm glad I accomplished this distance today since I can now feel confident I'll be able to complete the Bluenose Half Marathon in two weeks. Not that I thought I wouldn't finish, but I'm not going to lie, I am imagined myself crawling across the finish line! I think it's safe to say I'll be able to finish it still running :)

I've been trying out different gels and such to find what I like best for fuel on my long runs. I am not a fan of the gels as I find them way too thick to slurp a whole one back while running. You have to chase it with lots of water and it feels like I'm eating pudding :S So I got a pack of GU Chomps Energy Chews in Blueberry Pomegranate to see if those would work instead. Let's just say, I am definitely a fan! They are absolutely delicious and much easier to eat than the gels. Although they don't make it to your bloodstream as fast as a liquid would, I just ate them about 15 mins before I felt I would need an energy boost and they can be eaten very quickly. One pack also holds two servings (so can fuel an 1 1/2 to 2 hour run with one package) and they fit nicely in the pocket on the top/back of my Lululemon Inspire Crops. I will definitely be stocking up on these for my long runs as well as for the Half. Highly recommend these, especially for those who are fans of gummies :)

I really enjoyed my trip home (although it was way too short, I didn't get everything done I wanted to) and am sad I'll have to drive back to Halifax tonight. We managed to get a game of Rummy in last night – Mom was leading the whole time while Dad snuck in at the last second and creamed us all.

{Dalhousie cards with all the buildings. They're actually kind of distracting lol}

I also took a couple of pics on my run that I thought I would share:

{I have a lot of shots of the churches but the tide was out this morning and the sun was shining so I thought it made a nice picture}

{And a little ways up the road I found the Easter Bunny (or Easter Bear I should say?) – I guess he does exist! :P}

Sadly, I lost my water bottle on today's run. I ran with it about a third of the way and left it by the side of the road so I could pick it up on my way back but had no idea where I left it! I even went back after with the car and still couldn't find it. Won't make that mistake again! I'll be using my hand-held water bottle for the race (which I forgot to bring home) which is nice and small and can be refilled as I go.

Happy Sunday,

S

A nice surprise

So I guess I have a lot of catching up to do! It has been such a busy week I haven't had any time to write up a decent post. So I'll try and make up for that today.
Took a rest day on Wednesday, the day was very hectic with class and a tutorial on top of an 8 hour work day so I didn't make it home until late. I experimented making wheat-free tortillas which turned out not to bad, not too good either though. Still tasted good but much thicker than the usual tortilla which made them a little hard to eat.

Great run yesterday evening after work. Another 6.5k/46:12 mins. It was ridiculously hot in the Y cardio room though, probably due to the sun streaming in through the windows that line the back of the gym directly behind the treadmills. Needless to say I was mopping sweat off my face left and right yesterday! Felt really good after though and shaved off a couple of seconds from my normal run.
My parents also came up the city yesterday to take Katie and I out for lunch. We were celebrating me getting my official acceptance into the Masters program in Anatomy & Neurobiology at Dal (woohoo!) and also to give Katie a break from her ridiculous Architecture school schedule. I think we will all be glad when she is done for the semester – she'll be glad to be done her work and we'll be glad to have our Katie back!

As a nice surprise my Mom took me to Lululemon after lunch for some treats! Spoiled much am I? :P I was thrilled to get another pair of Run: Inspire Crops II in Wee are from space indigo/ink well (what an awesome name), a Run: Swiftly Tech Short Sleeve in pop orange (one of my fav colours) and another Cool Racerback in fresh teal. Beautiful! Thanks mom :) I've been wearing the crops around the house tonight and they are so comfortable. Can't wait to take them running.





I'm working on teaching myself Dreamweaver at the moment so I can make my own website for my blog. I love doing design work so I though creating and designing my own website would be a great hobby. I'm just finding it hard to find the time. When I'm not at work, I'm at class, studying, running, cooking, doing laundry or hanging out with friends. There is not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do! It's frustrating but at least I'm keeping myself occupied. Things should settle down in the next week or two once work is less hectic, classes will be over and the nice weather (which hopefully will join us soon!) actually happens. Anyways, I will let you know once I have the website up and running. Hopefully it will turn out pretty cool :)

I'm looking forward to my run tomorrow, going to attempt 13k! And now I've got some new running gear which makes me even more excited :) Found this very cool article in the Chronicle Herald (thanks Dad) about a 75 year old man from Bedford who'll be making the trip to run the Boston Marathon on April 15. Very cool and inspiring.

Have a great weekend, I know I will.

S

Update:

Tried out the brown rice pasta I bought tonight. Tastes exactly like regular whole wheat pasta, same texture. I did it really basic tonight (it's already 8:30pm so I was looking for something quick). I added black beans, corn, onions, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce which I mixed greek yogurt into for some protein :) With a little cheese on top (the photo makes it look way cheesier than it, sadly, actually was) and a glass of wine it was perfect! I also added some fennel which was a surprisingly nice touch.

Mellow Monday, Trendy Tuesday

No run on Monday, I took a day to rest my legs from Sunday's run. It was also a crappy day because of all the rain outside. I thought we were heading for some nice weather finally! Today seems to be a lot nicer with the sun shining this morning so hopefully it truly is Spring time!

{View from my window at work, wasn't looking forward to going outside at the end of the day}

Plus I had to be up at 5:30am Monday morning to drive Matt into Bedford. They are working on a foundation in Liverpool again this week so if I drive him in I can keep the car while he's away in case I need it. It was HORRIBLE getting up that early but worth it I guess. Got to go back to sleep for an hour or two when I got home but I made it an early night, after watching Game of Thrones of course! What a fantastic show. It's times like this I wish I had splurged for cable so I can watch it with everyone else. Oh well, I didn't run into any spoilers before watching it so that was lucky :) Great first episode, can't wait for the rest of the season (literally, I can't wait, I need it now!)

Made myself I yummy meal last night of quinoa with shrimp, edamame and mushrooms with cilantro and a touch of sesame oil. Delicous :)

I've been really into quinoa lately and looking for different ways to cook with it. For this, I first toasted it in a dry pan then cooked it by simmering it in vegetable stock. It was much more flavourful this way than just cooking it in water.

Yet again made it to the gym this morning, I honestly don't know how I'm doing it! I'm literally the worst morning person. It's just so nice to have it done and not have to worry about fitting a run in later in the day and the gym is much less busy in the mornings (although the YMCA is generally not too hectic which I love). Did 6.5k/46:16mins which is an average 11:34/mile pace, a bit faster than usual. I was a little stiff this morning so my run did feel a bit strained but my muscles seemed to loosen up by the end. Tried out my new Run: Swiftly Tech Short Sleeve shirt that I just bought (@fledgelingx I'm slowly adding to my collection!). Super comfy and light and dries very quickly. It's the short sleeve version of my Run: Swiftly Tech Long Sleeve which is great for running outside during cold mornings. I'm slowly expanding my running gear collection and loving it :)

Easter Sunday

I feel very accomplished this morning! Dragged myself out of bed at 8:30am, not to hunt for Easter eggs like the usual Easter Sunday morning (yes, my parents still love the look on our faces while we search for little presents of chocolate-y goodness around the house, even at 25 years old), but for my weekend long run!

Did the same route as last time I was home but pushed it a little further as I was aiming for 11k. It was absolutely BEATUIFUL this morning, the sun was shining, the birds were out and it was warm enough to just wear my long sleeve running shirt. I returned with a larger collection of freckles on my face as I was running straight into the sun for the first half of the run, lucky me!

There were lots of ducks out this morning, by the road as well as in the Bay. This next picture is either Whynachts or Andrews Cove, not sure which, but it was absolutely stunning this morning.

Shout out to Ali for giving me this headband! :) If you love Lululemon you should check out her blog here!

Since I started running I've been mapping my route using WalkJogRun.com. Although a great website and very useful to map out runs before hand or see how far you ran afterwards, measuring out distances was brutal as you had to trace the route very slowly along the path you wanted to make sure it was accurate and not cutting through houses/woods. A new website I am using, MapMyRun.com doesn't seem to have this problem.

It's incredibly easy to use and you can click on your start spot and then your finish spot and it will fill in your route according to the road (if that's where you're running) in just two clicks. Very user friendly. It also tracks and saves your running recording distance, calories burned, elevation, etc., so you can look back and see previous runs. WalkJogRun also seems to have this feature but I found the format to be confusing and not as sleek and easy to use as MapMyRun. It also has an easy to use iPhone App version. 

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I had a delicious Easter lunch today at Matt's mom's place topped off with coconut cream pie for dessert (yum!). I made some homemade gluten-free red velvet cupcakes (my parents are on a wheat-free kick, I'll do a post on this later). They turned out much better than expected. I used a combination of different wheat-free flours such as coconut and sorghum flour and you can't tell the difference at all, they are still super moist and fluffy. You can find the recipe here!

Happy Easter!!

S

 

Look good, feel good

Afternoon! Having a rest day today, I have a lot of things at home/school work I've been neglecting so I thought I could be productive on my day off training and get some studying and housework done after work. It's amazing how things can pile up! I also need to raid the Dollar Store for stuff to celebrate St. Patty's Day on Saturday (Wooo!). I plan on getting my long run out of the way Saturday morning so I have the rest of the day to clean/prepare.

The weather was kind of crappy today so I kind of don't mind not running this morning but I think unfortunately this is going to carry on for the next couple of days. Oh well, morning run in the rain tomorrow! Might be refreshing :P

I'm thinking I might squeeze a little work out in tonight – maybe try some Pilates moves?

Can't wait to try out my new Lululemon gear on my run tomorrow :) Look good, feel good!

S