Prana Bars

Gluten free bars at their best. These are super tasty, come in a good variety of flavors, and contain nutrients to promote athletic performance. However, like most bar foods, they are pricey. I think I'll try to whip these up myself...shouldn't be hard since they are made of ingredients I have in my pantry.
When I get the recipe down, I'll post it!

Caramalized Onion Salad

In my attempt to eat lighter dinners, hearty salads are a delicious and satisfying option. I know us celiacs get sick of salads, but this one will not let you down. Its simple but not at all bland.

Most people immediately associate salads with health food, but some salads can fall short in the nutrition department. They can contain fried items, too much cheese, fatty dressings, etc, and some restaurant salads can top 1000 calories! This salad delivers the nutrients a runner needs and nothing extra. Spinach is loaded with iron, walnuts contain healthy fats, and the balsamic vinegar has enough flavor that no extra dressing is needed.


Recipe:

4 cups Baby Spinach
1/4 c. Walnuts, halves or pieces
1 Yellow Onion, sliced
1 tbps Olive Oil
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 c. Shredded Chicken
1 ounce Blue Cheese, crumbled ( I used stilton)

Heat the oil in a skillet, add the onions and saute over med-low until nice and caramelized. Stir in the balsamic, walnuts, and chicken. After about two minutes, remove from heat. Divide the spinach onto two plates. Top each pile of green with half the onion mixture and sprinkle with the blue cheese. Enjoy!

Bloody Toes

This is my left foot after the Rocket Run 10 miler. Not sure why my toes feel the need to explode lately... but peeling a bloody sock off my foot after a run is something I could do without. Must be my new Mizuno sneaks... but I love them!

Oh well. Sandals are overrated.

Rocket Run 10 Miler

Problem... my training runs have gotten better... good right? Except that my racing has gotten worse. wtf.

This morning I competed in the Rocket Run 10 mile race.

I was feeling good going into it. Woke up early, hydrated, showered, ate a piece of gluten free banana bread... I'll post the recipe soon, promise!

Finished 2nd female overall... but that really doesn't mean much when I didn't meet my personal goal. My pace per mile was 7:09.
Not bad you think... well you're wrong. If I can run a 13.1 race with a pace of 7:06 min/mile, then I should be able to run a ten miler a bit faster. Sigh.

Maybe I trained too hard this past week. Or maybe I'm getting worse.

I definitely was having trouble pushing myself. Mentally, I just couldn't go faster. Which was frustrating. There were no IPODs allowed, and the course was boring. No spectators, no scenery, nothing. Still, should have done better.

Race Results

Next time.

New Training Run

Today I tried something different. Its come to that point... the one where I've realized that in order to get better PRs, I must really step things up. Run run run, that's been my plan... but now its time to put more emphasis on speedwork, rest, tempos, and all those other specific type runs.

So today I tried one out.

The point is to split your goal race distance into smaller segments and take rest breaks in between intervals and preform the running segments at race pace.

Here's how I did it...

2 mile warm-up at 7.2 mph
3 miles at 8.6 mph
5 minutes rest
3 miles at 8.6 mph
6 minutes rest
3 miles at 8.6 mph
1 mile cool down at 7.2 mph
= 12 miles total.

Verdict:

This was a very hard run to complete! Goal race pace for 9 miles is difficult to do on a treadmill, without the actual race day anxiety and adrenaline.
I will definitely be adding this run to my training. We'll see if the effort pays off.

Pain free

Due to thunderstorms this morning I had to hit the gym for a treadmill run. Today I was hoping to get in 8 miles... normally that'd be no problem, but due to recent tendinitis anything over a slow 6 has been impossible.
Well today I made 10!! and without pain or tightness. I didn't take the pace much under 8min/mile, but it still felt great to do decent mileage. I also felt like I could keep running past ten miles... but felt I shouldn't get too greedy with it! No need to over due it, I want to be fully healed!

This run makes me think maybe I won't have to switch from the full to the 1/2 marathon on April 24th. Fingers crossed. I'm very late on my marathon training and hate feeling so unprepared for a race. Sigh, we'll see in the weeks to come...

I'm a racer, I'm a racer!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's official... the Huntsville Fleet Feet has announced their 2010 racing team... AND I'M ON IT!

Honestly I'm baffled.
and delighted, excited, anxious, and oh yes...completely terrified and intimidated.

Woot. Did I mention Super Freakin' Excited?!?

CHECK IT OUT!

So not sure what I have to do yet... but can't wait to get more info!

Right now I know I have to get faster. Much faster.
My goal is to train hard and lose some winter weight. I've got a good 5 pounds packed on and shedding that would definitely help my speed. Time to make a running schedule and stop eating gummy bears.

I'm in Love....

I've always been a GU fan. Easy to carry on a run, gluten free, and tastes better than the other energy gels. The roctane are delicious, but too expensive in my opinion. So I stuck with the espresso love flavor for the most part. Until recently that is... I picked up a free Gu at a race and it happened to be one of the new Jet Blackberry flavors. Reluctantly, I took it on a 12 miler and at mile 6 when I sucked it down... OMG was I amazed. It is so flavorful and delicious... I'd gladly eat this for dessert running or not. So I bought a case.
Thank you GU for fueling my runs.

Tuna Rolls

I was feeling great after a 12 mile run with an ave pace/mile of 7:27 so I wanted some healthy grub to keep my high going.
A chunk of tuna in the fridge was calling my name...
After marinating the tuna in a little gluten free soy sauce and lime juice, tyler seared up the seafood (just seared, we like it RARE) while I sliced and diced some plants. Carrots, romain, red onions, cilantro, mango, and cucumber along with slices of tuna got rolled up in rice paper. I dipped them in a bit of sweet pepper sauce and devoured them.

It's easy to come home from a run and scarf some junk food to replenish, but sometimes...usually... its worth the effort to prepare a fresh, clean meal.

Bad Races

I suppose everyone has a bad race. It makes sense... we all have poor training runs every now and then. But I've been lucky and have always PRed and had a good performance at every race.
Until the Reedy River 10k in Greenville, SC that is....
I had taken a full 6 days off to try and cure my semitendinosus tendinitis. It didn't work at all. At the start line I had that feeling of dread. This just isn't going to go well I thought... My heart was beating out of control and I hadn't even taken a single step yet. Sigh. I took off at the gun anyhow. Got through 2 miles at a good pace, but then it caught up with me. I crashed hard. Couldn't keep up. Breathing was labored, heart was racing, tendon was so tight I thought it might just rupture. During the final mile I was passed constantly... one weekend jogger after the next overtook me with ease. Damn. I could barely hold back the tears, and once I crossed the finish line, I wanted to hide from the embarrassment. Sigh. Tyler told me to suck it up. I hate being married sometimes.

So that was my first (likely not my last) bad race. And yes, I still ate ice cream afterwards.