Yesterday’s workout was: 10.7 miles w/5 x 1.25mi @10k pace, avg. 3:40 recoveries.  I averaged 6:59s.  It was 81 degrees and Daniels and Tinman say that’s equivalent to 6:47s in normal temps, so I plugged it into McMillan and dang if it doesn’t spit out my Half PR from last year.  Of course, this is all calculated approximation so TWB (tinged with bullshit) but I haven’t been in spitting distance for close to a year, so this is a beautiful thing.

Btw, some weather trivia I just read: this is the hottest Philly summer on record, and by a wide margin.  Highs averaged 88.7!  Last winter had record snowfall.  If this keeps up, I may just move my ass outta here.  But back to running…

Race Goals For The 19th
As mentioned, I’m not looking for a PR for this one, instead my main focus will be getting hydration down right.  I’ll also be tweaking the nutrition aspect and for the first time, at Adam’s suggestion, will take 2 gels, one 30 minutes in, the next 30 minutes afterward.  I think this is a great idea, I’ve always scrimped on that stuff during Halfs but now I have no problem taking gels (they used to remind me of snot but now I find them quite tasty, or else I’ve established a craving for eating snot).  But back to the goal…

1:34 has a nice ring to it; challenging, but not tempting fate too much.   Having trained in this miserable weather for months, it’s hard to realistically know what’ll happen.  It’s like you’re rehearsing for a dance but only marking your moves for months, then suddenly you have a week to dance all-out (assuming we’ll have some cooler weather before the 19th).  Should be interesting, if nothing else.  Plus, the major happiness with this race is the girlies coming in: there’ll be Reyana coming from California, Rebecca from Alabama, Doggie & Loren and Kat.  So it’s a chickfest in the works!

Meanwhile, I’m actually looking forward to my 6@Half pace tempo this Friday (or Saturday if the weather’s better) to see where my heart rate lies.  Who is this person?  Looking forward to quality runs again?  No defeatist attitude?  Some actual confidence?  She seems familiar but I can’t quite place her.  Looking forward to become reacquainted with her as the Fall progresses, though.  Speaking of…

Fall Races
I started scouting out races to do between this Half and the November one, and compiled a nice little list, which I’ve put on my At The Races page. I’ll pick 3 but those are the choices so far.   It’ll be so good to get back in the game – the longer I’m away, the more nerve-wracking it is to race.  Which is another reason I’m happy that September’s Half will be a rustbuster and not one that (in my mind) counts.

Back to the present
I had a fun 11-miler this morning, the first few miles run with blog commenter and friend Steph, who is one half of a pair of athletic twins (missed you today, Linds!).  I see them both in the park and they look so remarkably identical, the only way I can tell them apart is one wears red, the other wears blue.  I’m still not convinced there are two of them since I’ve yet to see them together.

Anyway, we had a fun time jabbering about the park regulars, it’s so satisfying to have your observations of weirdos and funny running styles confirmed.  Btw, they’re not the only twin runners in the park, there’s another set of sisters in their 20′s too, though they’re much easier to tell apart.  They’re also very sweet and always say hi.

I’ll end today’s post with a shout-out to my friend Matt Tartar, whom I met doing the Runner’s Roundtable.  He’s got a cool podcast called Dump Runner’s Club where he talks of all things running.  If you’re a podcast listener, add him to your list, he’s a funny guy and a sweetie, besides.

And that concludes today’s blah blah.   I wish you all the blah blah for the next couple blah.   Be safe and make sure to blah your blah blah because it might get itchy if you’re not careful.

Moving backwards in time…

Last Friday’s tempo was swell: 9 w/ 3mi@Half, 2min rec, 2mi at 10k.  Wore my HR monitor for the first time in many weeks and was happy with the outcome.  An easy 9 on Saturday and on Sunday, 16 into the trails.  That was a cool run because I was dragging at the start but on the way back, managed to hit paces I rarely run in easy runs anymore.

My Facebook friends know that for 2 miles, I was followed by some spitting, hocking, wheezing guy, then when I got to my half-way point and turned, the guy said “Oh no, you were giving me great paces!”.   It made me laugh, but I’ve never been happier to separate myself from another runner as I did then.  I so wanted to say “Good luck with those allergies” but didn’t bother.

On a more fun note, I passed 3 groups of XC runners (I guess they’re XC?  Is any college type group of runners a group of XC runners?  Is there such a thing as a group of track runners?  But then I guess they’d be on a track.  I have no idea about these most elementary running things) – anyway…one set of guys, two sets of girls.

The girls were pretty cool, looking way fierce, and one group was led by a definite Alpha, she was very tall and telling a story while everyone was laughing.  When I passed them on the return, they’d all become silent as the heat of the morning and their effort had obviously made a dent.  I was surprised when the Alpha said “good morning” as they passed, usually those groups keep to themselves.

I like the way I can peek into these alternate universes that I’d never noticed before, understand what people are doing even though we have so many years between us.  It’s funny because I know that to many, I must look like an old hand at this running thing, but half the time, I still feel like an interloper or someone playing being a runner.  Not that I mind really, it doesn’t affect my enjoyment at all, but I wonder what it’ll take to feel permanently ensconced.  Maybe it has to do with starting so late that I’ll always feel like I’m borrowing somebody’s sport.  Then again, I’m a transient in life, so maybe it’s just my M.O.

Anyway, got back from the run and spent the rest of the day making a Facebook page for GIMheadbands and bugging my friends to “Like” it.  Big hugs to those who did, especially the men…that’s pure support right there.

Super big hugs to those who’ve bought some already.  I got the testimonials/customer photo page working, so don’t be shy, send me a photo of you rocking a headband, I want to see many lovely faces up there soon!!

And now, time to chill out, got an early morning tomorrow with quite a hard workout: 5 x 1.25mi @10k pace, 3-4 minute recoveries.  Hmmm…given the choice, do you think I’ll take 3 or 4 minute recoveries?  What is that 3 even doing there?  Making me feel guilty because I sure as hell will be doing 4.  Once a slacker, always a slacker.

For the record, I don’t pay attention to the carb/protein/fat ratio of what I eat.  I did last year when I was logging food and again when I began this time, I logged a few days worth on DailyPlate.com just to check, but my ratio comes out pretty solid so I don’t sweat it.  I suggest you log your food online for a few days to make sure your proportions aren’t way off.

I do keep a few key things in mind:

1. Protein and fat are what keep you sated (I always thought it was carbs until I read Racing Weight), so a bit of either/both will help you feel full longer than just straight carbs.
2. After a run, you want to eat within an hour or so and include a little protein to aid recovery.
3. Since I eat less and stop eating earlier than I used to, if I have a hard run the next morning, I make sure I get a nice carby meal that night.  Might not make a difference but it can’t hurt.
4. If you don’t already, consider taking a multi-vitamin to cover any potential holes.

Tools Of The Trade - my postal scale (only used to weigh marijuana once and not successfully, either) and my cups and tablespoon.

Now About That Food…
I live alone so I rarely never feel like cooking. One thing I love to do is make a huge pot of rice or Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains and divide them into 1-cup portions, put them in baggies and shove them in the freezer.  That way I’ve always got perfectly-sized servings on hand.

Bread – I avoid those huge-ass loaves and try to keep the calories per slice around 70 – this requires some label reading since most of them are 90-120.  And I always get whole wheat or a grain mix.

Herbs – I love these Dorot frozen cubes.  I get the garlic and basil ones at Trader Joe’s.

Warning: Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) is a running theme throughout the post, though several of the items including these cubes, are available elsewhere.  I’m sorry if you don’t have one in your town or country, it kicks ass.  In lieu of that, similar frozen meals to the ones below are available in Whole Foods or normal grocery stores, though usually pricier.

Butter – I use faux stuff, 50 calories instead of 100.  I also use (but only for popcorn) “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray.  Some of you are barfing over this, but it works for me.  For cooking, I always use non-stick cooking spray.

Cheese – I had stopped buying cheese since I’m either a pig with it or it gets old in the fridge.  Now I buy individually wrapped string cheese and cheddar cheese which works great because it’s a pre-measured 70 or 80 calories, stays fresh and makes a great small snack.

Syrup – I respect that some of you hate the idea of Splenda and sweeteners, but I love my Maple Grove sugar-free syrup.  Compare 210 calories for 1/4 cup of normal to 30 calories for this stuff.  Btw, I don’t eat the standard portion size of 1/4 cup, I get 8 servings out of a bottle instead of 6, so that’s only 22 calories per slab of pancakes.  My insatiable sweet tooth is very happy.

Veggie Burgers – I’m not a vegetarian at all but I’ve not had the urge to buy or cook raw meat in a long time.  I do however, like to keep an assortment of veggie burgers on hand.  They’re so easy to prepare and yummy, too, though a couple aren’t really “burgers” at all, just shaped like them: Dr. Praeger’s California burgers (110 cal) which are so vegetabley, you can see each individual pea and carrot and Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala burgers (120 cal) which are fantastic if you like Indian food, really great to crumble over grains or rice.  When I want one that tastes and chews like an actual burger, I get Boca burgers (140 cal).

Grains and Pasta: Big favorite is TJ’s Harvest Grains which contains Israeli couscous, red and green orzo, split dried garbanzo beans, and red quinoa.  It’s 283 cal for a prepared cup, easy to make as couscous, has 10g of protein and has a wonderful substantial texture.  I make mine with chicken bullion and no added fat, cook the whole bag (yields 6 cups) and freeze half of it in the aforementioned baggies.

As for pasta, I just recently started eating whole wheat pasta and love it.  The thing about pasta is you really need to measure or weigh it before cooking because it’s too easy to make unnecessarily large portions.

Frozen Entrees: Trader Joe’s has so many excellent ones, I’m only partially ashamed of my frozen food consumption.  When buying frozen entrees, I always look for portion sizes that go with my calorie goals, 450 -500 calories.  If I bought something that had 650, I surely wouldn’t put 4 bites in the fridge for leftovers, I’d eat the whole thing, so it’s just easier to choose the right amount from the start.

Dividing Your Calories Up
As per the Racing Weight book, when I was targeting 1800 calories, that’s 450 per meal and 150 per snack.  Now that I’m going for 1900-2000, I add a bit here and there.  My main deal is to make sure that by the time dinner rolls around, I’ve had about 1200 calories so I’m not “saving for later” as I used to.  This also makes lunch a hell of a lot more fun because I can eat the meals I’d only reserved for dinner in the past.

So let’s get into it.  Note that when you see a lower amount of calories for a meal listed, like a turkey sandwich, I’ll have a small side dish or fruit or make the next snack a bit bigger to try to keep things even as far as fueling.  It feels so much better this way – no cravings, no hunger.

Pre Run (5:30 – 6am, though the last few days 8ish…woohoo cooler weather!)
Quality run or if I’m hungry first thing: Bread with peanut butter and 1/2 banana – 220 calories
Recovery run: 1/2 banana – 55 cal
Always: Hazelnut coffee with fat-free Half and Half – 20 cal

Breakfast (whenever I get back)
Pancakes with sugar-free syrup – 330 cal
Bread with peanut butter and 1/2 banana – 220 (I’ll have 2 of these or one will have been the pre-run one)
Old Wessex 5-grain cereal (I get it at Whole Foods…love the chewiness) w/ 1 tbsp. of peanut butter and sweetener (just like a warm PB cookie!) – 250 for 1/2 cup cereal and 1 tbsp. PB or 375 calories for a bigger portion.
Eggs with spinach/mushrooms and 2pc. toast with faux butter  – 390
Dr. Praeger’s Veggie burger on toast – 250
Maple Shredded Wheat and 1% milk (1.5 cups cereal, 3/4 cup milk) – 380

Lunch or Dinner (noon and 6-7pm)
Turkey veggie sandwich with tomato, cucumber, mushrooms and lite mayo – 270 cal
Egg salad sandwich w/lite mayo – 270
1/2 cup TJ’s Harvest Grains sauteed w/spinach and garlic for a nice side dish – 150 cal
Boca burger w/cheese – 360
Trader Joe’s quiche (love these!  they fulfill my need for crust) – 460 cal
TJ’s salsa verde chicken enchiladas – 480 cal
TJ’s Olympiad greek pizza (a one-person pizza and quite delicious) – 450 cal
TJ’s Chicken Tikka Masala and a piece of garlic naan (yum!) – 490
TJ’s Masala Veggie Burger crumbled over grains w/veggies- 450
Whole wheat pasta w/sausage, veggies and tomato sauce – 500
Pasta with white clam sauce – 470
Rice and black beans w/ spicy sausage and veggies – 450
Salad with lots of veggies, 1/4 cup walnuts & 1/4 cup dried cranberries, balsamic/1tbsp. oil – 530
Chinese pork dumplings w/rice and veggies – 500
Egg noodles (3 cups dry…lots ‘o noodles) w/broccoli, garlic, basil and faux butter – 530
Sauteed fish w/low-fat coconut milk and curry sauce, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts – 480
Shrimp coconut curry w/veggies (yes, I love curry) – 500

Once it starts getting cooler, I’ll pull out the crockpot and make stews and pork tenderloins, etc. which I’ll portion out and freeze.  I haven’t bought fresh chicken in about a year (I’m so weird), I used to cook a few breasts and freeze them, so I need to get back on that.

Snacks (10:30, 3pm and 8:30pm)
5 water crackers, 2 tbsps hummus and a carrot – 140 cal
3 crackers and an ounce of cheese – 115
Air popcorn (made in a paper bag) – 1/4 cup unpopped 145 cal, 1/3 cup unpopped 204 cal
1/2 cup Old Wessex 5-grain cereal w/cinnamon and sweetener- 160 cal
Veggie burger open sandwich – 180 to 210 cal
Tomato, cucumber, mozzarella salad w/balsamic – 140
White wine – 120
1/4 cup chopped walnuts – 200
Fruit

And that concludes my gastronomic sampler.  Hope it’s helpful if you’re stuck figuring out what to eat when trying to lose weight.  Of course, if you don’t mind cooking, the world is your oyster and there are tons of recipes online for light cooking.  Then you can invite me over for dinner.

Have a great weekend, my friends.  Eat well, run well!

As I’ve said, mile repeats are my least favorite workout, they’re just so interminably long, and with today’s schedule having 5 of them, I wasn’t too thrilled.  On the other hand, I wasn’t too freaked either, since the pace was 15k, a nebulous speed found only from McMillan’s calculator since I’ve never raced a 15k. It’s actually quite a nice pace, a little faster than Half, little slower than 10k, so it seemed doable going into it.

The weather these last two days has been infinitely better, enough so that I haven’t had to set the alarm – went to bed at midnight and woke up at 7am, which is way more my style.  Btw, those 8-hour nights I’d been shooting for will probably never happen, but 7 is a huge improvement.  Temps-wise, it was 68 degrees when I got outside, low 70s by the end of the run.

Adequate rest and great weather had me running faster than planned and the kicker is that I actually considered adding an extra interval.  Shocking.  I ultimately decided against it, wanting to savor the feeling of having a tad extra in the tank because I haven’t felt this “right” in so long.

Funny how all it takes is one great workout to make you feel more confident about the rest of the schedule.  Friday’s tempo lands on another great weather day and I’m actually looking forward to it…more shock and awe.

Weight update
My weight hasn’t moved in a week and a half, though my bodyfat number is going down.  I’m really glad I got that scale, otherwise I’d be feeling a bit irritated about the plateau, but the bodyfat number decreasing totally makes up for it.  For the record, I’m at 118 right now so I’ve lost 5lbs since I started a month ago.

Also, I’m eating 1900-2000 calories now.  Feeling like I could stick with this calorie load forever.  In the Spring, in a misguided attempt to lose weight, I ate salad almost every night and lunch was always a turkey sandwich.  Yawn.  Haven’t had either of those in weeks, much more varied on the menu front.

And with that, it’s time to figure out what I’m having for lunch.  Likely it will involve my boyfriend, Joe.  Trader Joe, that is.  He’s dreamy and knows just how to feed a girl right.

On Tuesday, I had 10mi w/ 5x1K @ 5K pace – 90sec rec’s, though the original schedule was 2x(5x1k@10k – 1min rec’s). I changed it because A) first and foremost, it was 80 degrees and the dewpoint equation was 149, so I wasn’t going to do 10 of anything much less 1ks and B) I remember that workout as the hardest one when I was training for Philly, and since I’m not marathon training anymore, I reserve the right to balk at such things. :-)  So I shortened it but sped it up.

My other workout was a tempo on Friday: 9mi w/6@Half pace, which went well albeit with an adjusted target pace for 79 degrees.  No heart rate to compare since I haven’t worn the strap in weeks, so I’m trusting it was the right effort.

Lastly on the quality front was a 17-miler in the trails yesterday.  Happily, it didn’t follow a tempo day, as my recent LRs have due to weather switch-ups.  Because of that, my legs were feeling good but it was humid as hell so it was still a slow one.  It rained through a large part of it which was wonderful except for the one shoe squeaking for about 14 miles.

Hydration was crazy: I refilled my 12oz. handheld 3 times plus long slurps from each fountain.  So I figure I had about 60 oz while on the road and still needed a couple large glasses once I got home.  Which makes this next bit somewhat ironic…

Giving Up The Bottle
They added a new fountain on my loop which happens to fall at a key point on my runs, so aside from trail runs, I haven’t carried a handheld all summer – a fact I’ve come to adore.  But it hasn’t escaped my mind that I need to address this since I have a Half coming up.

As most of you know, I always do Halfs and Fulls with a handheld, thanks to that first hospital incident a couple years ago.  I’ve yet to feel confident about doing water stops efficiently so it’s been easier mentally to carry my own.  But the fountains have spoiled me rotten so I’ve asked my friend Lara to help me practice in a couple weeks – she’ll stand outside my apartment building with a raincoat and galoshes while I soak both of us until I get it right.

Btw, I know how to fold the cup and all, it’s really more of me respecting the time it takes to get the fluid down, which’ll probably have me walking through the stops.   The good thing is that since I’ve already demoted the Distance Run from a goal race to a race race, I can afford to forfeit clock time if need be (not that I should lose a great deal, but hydration must be the priority).  So with this as a practice race, November’s Half should go swimmingly.

Headband Talk
Thanks to everyone who took a look and especially those who purchased and also shared the link via Facebook or email.  That was so sweet of you kids, I couldn’t believe it.  I’m really excited about the biz and have already had a couple opportunities come my way.  Between invites to do a blog giveaway and the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo, I’m already dreaming ahead of myself.  So this week’s task is to make a Facebook page and start promoting.  In fact, if any of you guys have some promotional ideas, please let me know.

Aside from that, the wide velvet came in, so 1.5″ headbands are ready, as are solid colors.  It took all my will, and I mean ALL my will, not to go to the fabric store this weekend.  I had forgotten what a drug that is, all those gorgeous bolts of potential just begging you to take them home.  But I already have a crapload of materials, so I’ll wait a week…or 3 or 4 days anyway.

OK, that’s it for blather, I’m off for a 6 with 6×30/60 hillettes.  The weather is finally calming down this week so I can sleep and run later.  Woohoo!!  Have a good one, folks.

How Did This Happen?
It’s no secret I ordered a headband online a couple weeks ago and found from it that velvet is fabulous for keeping a hair accessory in place.   I soon made a similar headband (because that one was way expensive) and posted a pic on Facebook saying, “hmmm…thinking about selling these things” and got a bunch of replies saying “go for it”, so I have.

I admit to having a long, sleepless night where I wondered if I was being a shit for copying someone’s exclusive business model.  But the next day I did an extensive search and found 5 different sources selling the exact same headbands as well as tons of tutorials on how to make them, which puts me in the clear.

Making It My Own
Initially, I did like everybody else and bought a bunch of ribbon, but the ribbon market is limited  which is why everyone’s making the same stuff, there’s only a finite pool of patterns to choose from.  So I thought about how I could differentiate myself and after a lot of trial and error…I found it.

Instead of focusing on pre-made ribbon, I’m setting my sights on fabrics: mainly cottons, some brocades and even a beautiful faux leather that I couldn’t resist.  Going this route opens a world of color and patterns that nobody else offers.  I’ve spent days and nights experimenting with different methods, materials, interfacings, even threads to figure out the best way to do this that won’t drive me bananas because it’s certainly more labor intensive than using pre-made ribbon.  I’ve also been wear-testing the different concoctions on each of my runs for the past week and am thrilled with the results.

At the moment, I’ve still got quite a few ribbon headbands in the shop since I ordered the stuff, might as well sell it, but I plan on replenishing only a few while I extend the fabric offerings.  I’ll be using grosgrain for solids though, which I’m getting in next week.  I’m also waiting for an order of wider velvet so I’ll have 1.5″ headbands starting next week, too.

There ya have it:  The Blue Hovel  has become a textile-laden fire trap, my neighbors will want to kill me for the sewing machine that is soon to be a constant soundtrack and hopefully, I’ll make a little dosh.  Oh, if you happen to meet any half-blind children in Third World countries, let me know, I may need a few slaves soon.

Later, gators!

Speaking of  “if you read the last post”, I was impressed by how many actually did.  Around 700 unique readers, which is a lot for a post where I don’t go to the hospital or have some other kooky crappy escapade.  I got so many cool comments, both on here and on Facebook that I wanted to thank you folks for taking the time to read the thing and also, that I love how alike so many of our experiences are.  Makes the world a smaller place, for sure.

Training
I thought it’d be a good time to compare my original training plan with what I’ve done so far.  Because the weather has been an unyielding bitch since June, some of the workouts were adjusted, made shorter or slower, or run on different days to chase a cooler temp.  I also had the hamstring incident that added an extra rest day and forfeited some hard running.

Today’s workout was changed, btw, twice.  Adam noted that 6×1000@5k was going to be too tough, so make it 5×1000, but then when I cried Help! because the heat index at 6am was going to be low 80s, he took pity on me and made it 12×400 with generously long recoveries (2min).  I loved it!

Click on it for full-size.  The original plan is on the left, starting with July 12th and goes through this week.  I know it’s a bit confusing, just note that the workouts are written above the days and each week’s total mileage is to the right, outside of the calendar days.

For Ilana
Sweet Ilana lives in the cool recesses of Colorado and enjoys gloating over her 50 degree weather on Facebook.  She contemplates wearing a jacket and will be in snowshoes the next time she checks in.  So today, when I returned from my 8.5 miles, I wrung out my sports bra and shorts just for her – a nice, thick, white sweat so she could share some summer love with the rest of us whiners.  Goes great in coffee, too.

A little over an hour's running and this is what my clothes had to show for it.

And that’s it for now.  Gotta dash off and talk about Alsarraf septorhinoplasty and mucoperichondrium now, because I’m cool like that.  Have a nice Wednesday, all.