Salty, sweet, and carbs

I…am not posting pictures of most of what I ate today.  The “must have salt and sweet and carbs” PMS monster took over.  I put a huge dent in a bag of community pita chips at work.  There was a mid-afternoon Tootsie Pop.  It wasn’t pretty.

After work was better.  I decided, in the spirit of “To run faster, you have to run faster” to, well, run fast.  Two miles, fast.  17:36.  Average pace?  8:48!  I felt incredible.  It was hard, but not awful.  I just KNOW I can check off my goal of a 26:59 5K this year sometime.  I can feel it!

Unfortunately, it feels like this.

Blisters.  Again.  On Monday, my feet were pristine—I got a pedicure the morning of the wedding, and God bless that Lisa, she took a cheese grater to them and they looked almost normal, save for the black toenail.

On my way home, I was counting the minutes until I could walk in the door and rip my shoes off.  I literally felt like my feet were being squeezed, HARD.  I don’t feel like my shoes are too small lengthwise, per se—but I feel almost like they’re too small from top to bottom, if that makes sense.  I think the orthotics take up a lot of room in the shoe and my foot feels kind of compressed.  Sigh.  As soon as I can, I’m paying a visit to the running store.  Again.  Ugh.

Dinner was my ultimate comfort food.

There’s nothing like it when you’re feeling gross.  Obviously, this was totally healthy, because it was Annie’s mac n’ cheese and a whole wheat bun.  Right? 

One more work day until the honeymoon!  I’m dying here.  So. Excited.

Administrative note: Once I get our CD of professional pictures, I’m going to do full recaps of the wedding day!  Our photographer said we’d have them within a month of the wedding.

What foods do you lack self-control around?  For me, it’s chips of any kind—I’ll take a handful here and there until they’re gone, which is why I don’t buy them!  But when they show up at work…watch out.

Need for speed

Hummus craving?  Satisfied.

Love it.  Although garlicky hummus breath is an issue.

I also had my usual spinach/balsamic combo, some cantaloupe (although it was hard and flavorless and I’m probably just going to dump the rest), and yogurt with granola.

Work today was CRAZY.  I wasn’t feeling the gym.  But I knew I should.

I decided that not feeling like going + blistering from the orthotics meant that I should keep today’s workout short.  I decided to run two miles.  After a mile, I decided to run much faster than I usually do and cranked the treadmill up to an 8:30 pace.  And…I felt fine.  It was hard, but not un-maintainably so.  In fact, I sped up and finished at a 7:50 pace!  All in all, I ran my second mile in 8:22, a new personal record for me.

While I was running so fast, (aside from biting my tongue REALLY HARD OW) I was thinking about fear.  I think I stick with “comfortable” numbers on the treadmill because I’m afraid of failing.  I know I can run a 9:50 mile, and I’ll do it well.  An 8:00 mile?  Scary.  I don’t know if I can do that.  I think my asthma is a factor here—I’m afraid that if I push hard, something bad will happen (although, realistically, I know my limits and would stop before that happened.)

I think the fact that I’m punching in a specific speed on a treadmill is holding me back.  Unfortunately, treadmill running is my best option for running most of the time.  I wonder how fast I’d be if I just found a flat surface and ran, you know?  So, from here on out…I’m going to run faster.  As Kath once wrote, “To run faster, you have to RUN FASTER.”  (Or something like that.) 

Even though I ran fast, and for less time than yesterday, my feet still blistered.  I’m beginning to accept that blistering just might be my normal (though I’m still going to try a wider shoe and see what happens).  Eff. 

In other news, we had our first kitchen fire today.

Tim put it out quickly.  (He set a paper towel on a hot burner.) But our house is smelling a little smoky.  Oops.

Milhouse ran and hid.

Buckley didn’t move.

It’s comforting to know our animals would save us in a disaster.

Two more work days until the honeymoon!  And two questions:

1. How do you conquer your fears?

2.  Runners: how do you figure out your comfortable pace and stick with it?

Hummus on the brain

Happy Monday!  These are iPhone photos—I forgot my camera, sorry.  But, I have to say, the quality has VASTLY improved over my old phone.

Lunch.  Unpictured spinach, canteloupe/pineapple, yogurt:

 

And some homemade wheat bread with a little homemade PB:

Since the wedding…I confess, I’ve been lacking in the exercise motivation department.  I truly have been busy trying to get our lives back in order, but I decided today I needed to make a triumphant return to the gym.  I KNOW I like working out once I’m there, but getting there is half the battle—especially after work.

So I employed a little external motivation.  I wore two pieces of meaningful workout gear.

Silly, maybe, but sometimes you literally need the reason you’re hauling your butt to the gym plastered across your forehead (and boobs).

In other news, I am pretty sure Bondi Bands are the best thing ever.  Mine held my new short hair back perfectly for my entire workout, and it wasn’t ugly!

The new ‘do doesn’t cover my neck at all, so no need for any kind of pony/pigtail.  Reason #43253 why I love this haircut.

Anyway.  I went to the gym and decided I wanted to do three miles of run/walk intervals.  (Yes, I can still run three miles.  I wanted to walk in an attempt to break my custom orthotics in gently.)  I did a 5 minutes-5 minutes walk-run split and finished in about 35 minutes.

BUT GUESS WHAT.  My feet are blistering again.  In the arches.  Yup.  Custom orthotics?  Not impressed.  I am going to go to the running store and get a new pair of WIDE running shoes and hope for the best—the only shoes I didn’t blister in were wides (unfortunately they also gave me horrible shin splints because they were a stability shoe).  I am going to buy WIDE, NEUTRAL shoes, preferably New Balances because of the big toe box, and cross my fingers.

The good news is that I had no ankle, shin, hip, or knee pain, so at least the orthotics are keeping things properly aligned.

In other news, I have had hummus on the brain.  I had to make a special trip to Target after work today.

Holy delicious.   I now want to bathe in hummus.  And black beans. 

Another rave?  The Lucy shorts I bought this weekend are fabulous.  Comfy, don’t ride, a big-thighed-girl’s dream.   Well worth the price thus far!

Anyway, I’m off.  Have a fabulous night!

Back in the saddle

Yup.  You heard right.

Rewind.  This morning it POURED on my way to work.  Actually, when I left home, there was a hailstorm going on!  That was interesting.  This is what my commute looked like.  (At a red light, don’t worry.)

Of course, things cleared up as soon as I stopped driving.

Spring has definitely sprung in these parts.  The grass is green and the flowers and trees are beautiful.

Unfortunately, they’re also making me MISERABLE.

I seem to be extra-allergic to Kansas City.  All fall I could barely breathe, and now my sinuses are in mucous overdrive.  I felt better this morning than I did yesterday morning, but all day I was sniffling and sneezing and my eyes were watering.  (And I do take Zyrtec once a day, too!)  I also have a constant mildly queasy feeling from all the sinus muck building up in my stomach.  Blerg.  I hope this is gone by Saturday.

Today’s run was kind of a big deal to me.  Mentally, I NEEDED a good run under my belt to feel prepared for Saturday.  As per my taper plan, I ran four miles.  I kept the pace intentionally slow (10:00/miles) so as not to hurt anything just in case.

It wasn’t particularly easy, given my allergies—breathing was a little harder than normal—but the good news is that my legs felt great!  No random shin/calf/knee/ankle pain.  Hallelujah.

Of course my feet blistered, though, despite coating them in antiperspirant pre-run.  Shocker.  I don’t even care at this point—in one week I’ll be fitted for my custom orthotics.  If anyone knows how to run with blisters, it’s me, and a new solution is in sight.

Anyway, it was a big relief to have a solid run under my belt.  It wasn’t speedy or easy, but it was definitely a-ok.  Phew.

In other news, people are very excited to come to our wedding!

Bringing the updated total to 63 yeses, 36 nos, 105 delinquent.

Oh, and here’s some further proof that Southpaw and Milhouse are lovers.

Yup.

What’s your favorite thing about spring?  I have to say, I love flip-flops and I don’t know what I’ll do now that I have a job where I can’t wear them to work every day! 

Thumbs up, thumbs down

Today’s enthusiastic thumbs ups:

• The anti-inflammatories basically killed all pain in my knees and shins and calves and ankles within two hours.  Yesterday I was sore and achy, today I feel like I could run pain free.  I am THRILLED.
• I went for my Doppler scan of my legs, and I do not have any blood clots.  Apparently my veins are small and normal.  Yay!
• I scheduled the appointment to be fitted for custom orthotics on April 12th.  Whee!
• Because of the scan, I left work about two hours early, which is always nice on a Friday.
• Made a delicious homemade pizza for dinner.
• Runner’s World came in the mail.
• I wrote thank you notes for the gifts we got yesterday.
• Tim is currently getting us a new printer and ice cream so I can get some wedding shiz done this weekend.

Today’s emphatic  thumbs downs:

• ALLERGIES.  My throat is coated with post-nasal drip slime that’s making my tummy upset.  Hello, spring!  I was also exhausted all day.  I can’t wait to have a nice, relaxing weekend at home
• My camera battery charger is MIA.  And my battery is dead.  Hence no pictures in this post (not that there were any to post anyway)
• No RSVPs.  We currently have 59 yeses and 34 nos.  204-(59+34)=111 RSVPs yet to get.
• Our venue booked another event the morning of our wedding in our room.  (Which they orally said they wouldn’t do.)  This means our DJ (my uncle, who I’m really close to) can’t load his equipment in until 4:15.  Our wedding ceremony is at 6.  I have no idea how we’re going to make this work.
• Lots of tiny, piddly wedding things to do this weekend (three random cards to make for the wedding picture table, start working on programs, timeline, order some sort of sucky-inny undergarment, order more gifts for people)
• I should REALLY clean our house.  It’s gone to hell the last few weeks and we’re booked pretty much every weekend after this one from here on out.

 

What are your thumbs ups and downs for today?

10 mile hangover

Hi, friends.  It’s been a pretty uneventful day around these parts, which is a good thing.

Lunch: a bagel thin sandwich, a nicely brown banana, and a Greek yogurt mess.  I’m a tiny bit burned out on green monsters for the time being, and I have a bunch of Chobani in my fridge I’d hate to see go to waste. 

In other news…I have a bunch of tiny, annoying wedding crap to do before I head to Chicago (yay!) for my first shower and bachelorette party next weekend.  It’s a lot of little things needling me, and it doesn’t help that I have to work from 6:30-1 on Saturday.  The big thing?  I have to get thank-you gifts for my shower hostesses (of which there are about a million) and wrap them.  No idea what to get them. And I have to print out hair and makeup “inspiration pictures” to bring to my trial.   Agggh.

Hey, look!  2 RSVPs today.  2 people yes, 2 people no.

Post-10-miler, I am feeling…so-so.  My legs don’t really feel tired or sore, which is good.  My hips feel a little tight so I’m planning on stretching well later tonight.  My hunger has been fairly regular (except I got REALLY starving right before dinner.)  The problem, of course…my feet.  Except this time, it’s not my arch giving me the trouble (yeah, there’s a huge ugly blister in it, but it doesn’t hurt), it’s my…forefoot I guess?  The ball of my foot?  I literally have three nested blisters—a blister inside a blister inside a blister.  (I covered it with moleskin and Second Skin today, which is why it’s kind of white-ish looking.)

This one REALLY hurts.  I am a weensy bit concerned about infection with this one, as it’s very painful to the touch and red around the edges, so I’m going to keep an eye on it.  I was limping at work all day to the point where people asked me how I’d hurt myself.  I decided to give it another day to rest and will attempt my 3 miler tomorrow instead.  Normally, I’ll push through blisters, but this one obviously didn’t want any weight on it and I could feel myself rolling my ankle to avoid pressure in my work shoes all day.  So, yeah.  No good.  I feel like my foot’s been gnawed on by a wild dog.

And for those of you who wonder how I blog…this is me, in my pajamas, with Southpaw and my laptop on my lap.  She must like this post, because she is purring loudly on my belly right now.

Not the most flattering photo, but hey.  Real life.  (Also, please note why I can’t wait to cut all my hair off ACK.)

 Anyone have a March Madness bracket going?  I’m in Tim’s office pool and have Syracuse as my winner this year!

Irish eyes are smiling

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I have not celebrated in any way at all today, which makes me a little sad.  I didn’t have the foresight to pack green clothing, unfortunately.  However, I am indeed Irish—75%.  (The other 25% is northern Italian.)  My mom’s maiden name begins with O’ and my paternal grandmother’s maiden name starts with Mc.   I have pale skin, freckles on my shoulders, and enjoy beer more than I should.  I think that qualifies me, no?  Growing up, we would always have corned beef, boiled potatoes and cabbage and soda bread today.  Last year I made soda bread, but this year I’ve been lame and forgotten altogether.  Fail.

Anyway.   Woke up in a hotel room.  My room service breakfast order showed up shortly thereafter.  On the menu today?  More food than I’d intended.  The card I filled out was for eggs and toast and coffee only, but much to my surprise, I got scrambled eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes, orange juice, and coffee.

The eggs were terrible.  So was the bacon.  So, I had toast, potatoes, orange juice and coffee for breakfast.  Not the healthiest, but such is life.

I did my work thang in the morning and got on the road back to Kansas City around noon.  It was a four hour drive.  After the coffee debacle, I decided to grab lunch BEFORE I got on the road.

It was a long, foggy, boring drive.  Thank goodness for Dan Savage podcasts.

Somewhere along the way, I decided I might as well do my long run today.  I’d be back at the office at 3, meaning I could be at the gym by 3:30, do the run, and be home before 6.  If I waited to do it tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to start until 5 and wouldn’t be home until 7:30 or 8!  Plus, I got a lot of sleep last night and was sitting on my bum all day.

I changed and walked over to the gym.  I wasn’t sure if I’d want two gels or one, so I brought two just in case.  I also brought some Gatorade powder because I remember craving it during my run last week. 

And…the running commenced.  Today marked the start of double-digits for me with my first 10 miler!  I broke it into two 5 mile segments.  I took the Tri-Berry Gu at mile 5, and refilled my water bottle and added some of the Gatorade powder.

The first five miles weren’t bad, and I definitely felt a nice energy rush after the Gu.  But at about mile 7.5, my energy started to wane.  Fine.  I can push through low energy.  But at mile 9, I realized I probably a) should have saved the gatorade for post run and b) probably should have incorporated both gels into the run.  My stomach started feeling kind of barfy and sloshy.  Nonetheless, I pushed through, literally counting down the seconds until the 10 miles were done!

All in all, 10 miles in 1:40:00—I stuck the treadmill at 6.0 and left it there.  (I took maybe 1 minute to reset the treadmill and fill my bottle, but whatever.)  It wasn’t a bad run, but I think that I learned that 9 miles and over requires two Gus—maybe at mile 4 and 8 or something.  I also forgot a stick of gum, which helps with dry mouth, so I drank too much water which I think contributed to the stomach issues.

My right foot is also a hot mess.  It kind of reminds me of raw ground turkey.  And the toenail just keeps getting blacker.  Sigh. 

In other news, remember the awful yellow flowered capris Victoria’s Secret sent me instead of my rehearsal dinner dress?  Well, the actual rehearsal dress showed up yesterday.

I need to wear it with Spanx to smooth everything out, because it’s a little clingy, but I do like it and the price/casualness level was perfect.  I think I’ll wear it with some kind of sandal, maybe.  It’ll also be good to take on the honeymoon. 

So, that’s that.  10 miles, in the books, and I lived to tell the tale.  Just tack a 5K onto that and I’ve got a half marathon!  Eep!

Are you Irish? Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

Action plan

Hi, friends!

Today was an on-the-go, traveling-for-work kind of day.  No complaints, though—I was home by 4!

And who says you can’t eat healthy on the road.  I packed another green monster and drank it as I drove!  They are still best fresh, but I made this one this morning instead of the night before and it was considerably better. 

I rounded things out with a PB&J.

Anyway, after work, I got home and guess what?  We got two RSVPs back!  One was from my mom, saying that she’s coming (duh), and the other was from Tim’s great-aunt and uncle with this lovely note.

They got married in the same town we are…62 years ago.  Whoa.  But they are not coming.  Total so far?  3 coming (me and Tim included), 2 not coming, 199 people…undecided.

After I got home, I decided to visit the running store again after yesterday’s most heinous run.  I packed up all my old running shoes, since Bob had mentioned wanting to see them last time I was in.  And then I figured I could donate them there, because lord knows I’m not using them and five pairs of running shoes=major closet space.

 

My friends at the Sports Medicine Store (and no, they are not paying me—I just really like this place) recognized me as soon as I came in with an “uh-oh.”  I explained to them what was going on—the intense rubbing in the arches, the tender knot in my shin/calf directly above my right arch—and, apparently, in all the excitement of Saturday, I missed the memo that I’m not supposed to be actually RUNNING in the arch supports for a week.

I think I got confused because they sent me home with the arch supports IN the running shoes.  So, apparently, I need to put the insoles in my shoes and gradually build up to wearing them all day just walking.  Until then, they said I will be fine to run in the shoes with the regular sockliner in them.  Back to the drawing board!  As always, the staff was super nice.  I bought a pair of socks just because I felt bad they had to deal with my crazycakes again.

Promise: if I make it through my half marathon with happy feet/shins/calves, I will bring the staff at the Sports Medicine Store cake balls.

Anyway, I’ve also been reading some about heel striking versus forefoot striking.  I think I’m a heel striker, which is apparently the worst thing you can do for your body, so I am going to play with my gait a little tomorrow to see if I can feel any difference if I attempt to strike with the front of my feet rather than my heels.

SO.  Tomorrow is long run day—another 8 miler.  Here is my superfab action plan for not crashing and burning.

• Eat.  Last week I was barfy afterwards because I didn’t eat enough during the day.  I am going to eat a slightly larger breakfast, pack a bigger lunch than I usually do, and a bigger-than-normal snack for about an hour beforehand.
• Hydrate.  But not too much.  I get sloshy if I drink 3 of my 24 oz. water bottles before a run, but 2 or 2.5 is okay.
• Foot care.  To prevent arch blistering I am going to use Second Skin pads and moleskin on both arches.  I wore it on my left arch on Monday and very much liked it.  I will also not be using the arch supports tomorrow, just the sockliner. 
• Leg care.  Apparently the knot-type feeling I have in my right leg is a little bit of internal bruising of some sort from the arch supports.  I’m going to ice it tonight and wear my Zensah compression sleeves tomorrow.  (I would wear them when I run, but I think I would be too hot!)
• Asthma.  Take my medicine.  Duh.
• Fuel.  I am deciding whether to try the much-touted Chocolate Outrage Gu or the assorted flavor Sports Beans I picked up today on sale.  Decisions, decisions.
• Mental.  Download the couple fun songs I tagged on Shazam to keep the beats interesting.    Bring a post-run snack so I don’t eat the steering wheel on the ride home.  Attempt to protect asscheeks from chafing.  Embrace the hardcore!  Eat the ellipticalizers for breakfast.

Anyway, that’s my plan.  Hopefully one of these days everything will fall into place.

What’s your favorite mental tactic to get through a long run?

Strenuous Activity

This morning at work I donated blood.  Good times!

Donating blood is super important to me, and I do it as much as possible.   I had no trouble with it and hopped off the table for some pretzels and water!

Today at work we had a lunch for a lady who is retiring.  It was very sweet and they had catered barbecue!  (Which foiled my plans to make barbecue chicken for dinner, but whatever.)  I had a barbecue turkey sandwich…and a brownie.  Yum!

One of the things they tell you after donating blood is to “avoid strenuous activity” for 24 hours.  I would assume that means running, but I’m defiant.  I waited…7 hours?  Close enough.  I took it easy on the pace–3.5 miles in 35 minutes–just in case.  (Also, my legs are sore from lifting yesterday.)  It felt great though!  I didn’t feel weak at all.  The run flew by.  (Note:  I do not recommend this!  I’ve donated blood a lot in the past and know how it impacts my body.  Do as I say, not as I do, and all that.)

For those of you who have been curious about what’s happened to Blistersquatch, here he is, morphed into the world’s most badass callus:

Unsightly, yes, but I have to admit, I’m a weensy bit proud of that sucker.

Anyway, I’m so glad tomorrow’s Friday.  This week has dragged!   I’ve got a new issue of Runner’s World to catch up on.

Do you listen to medical advice or are you noncompliant like me?

Tuscaloosa Tuesday

Today’s definitely been different than the typical Tuesday!

Instead of getting up at 6 for work this morning, I slept in until about 8 since I’m traveling for work all afternoon.  My boss and I agreed it didn’t make sense for me to drive in to work for an hour or two this morning, so instead I woke up, had my breakfast cookie, and went for a run.

It wasn’t a great one.  It was super duper windy!  And my asthma was bothering me.  So, my time was slower than usual, but I got it done.

Strangely enough, my foot doesn’t bother me much when I run…but once I took my shoes and socks off and got in the shower–owwww.  Water+open blister=SEARING PAIN.  I am starting to worry about infection.  It’s turned reddish purple and it burns to the touch.  But, life goes on.  I’m taking the next two days off, but I’ll still be on my feet in heels most of the time so…yeah.  Last night I tried the moleskin and duct tape solution.

Apparently my feet are super sweaty, because even in our freezing cold house this sweated off in about 10 minutes.  Big fail.

Here is the current state of my blister:

Yeeowch.

(By the way, I apologize for the blister-centric nature of many of my posts lately.  It is a big deal and hurts a lot.  If it’s still getting worse by the time I get home, I’m going to have it checked out.)  A friend of mine almost lost half her leg because of an infected blister, so I’m a little scurred right now.  I think I’m definitely going to go to the sports medicine/running store this weekend and demand some answers.

Anyway.  After running, I showered and decided on a two-part lunch because of my flying schedule:

Strawberry Chobani, thawed frozen bing cherries (YUM), and Erin Baker’s chocolate granola.  Super good!  (I can’t wait until we have our pretty wedding dishes to photograph for the blog.)

Part two was packed for the airport:

A small turkey sammich and a clementine.  I ate these waiting for my flight out of KCI.

While I was flying, I was reading, and reading, and OMG reading.  This book was so good.  And scary!  Definitely recommend it.  It was really slow for the first few chapters, but then it smacked me across the face and I couldn’t put it down.  Definitely will be buying the sequel!

I finished it between my two flights and immediately replenished my reading material at the St. Louis airport.

I’m supposed to be getting a Runner’s World subscription for Christmas, but my aunt said there might be a problem with it and I haven’t gotten an issue yet.  Love this magazine!  The stories kept me busy the whole way to Birmingham.

(I snacked on a Kind Almond and Coconut bar.  My favorite! And I bought a huge bottle of water, too.)

Then, after an hour’s drive, I was finally at my destination–Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  I was STARVING after just grazing all day!  Panera to the rescue.

Chicken soup, turkey sandwich.

Now I’m watching the Biggest Loser and decompressing and trying to figure out how to keep the ‘squatch happy while I’m on my feet tomorrow.  Good times.

What’s your favorite magazine? I love Runner’s World, Self, and Cook’s Illustrated!