Short, sweet and working on focused.

A race always helps ease the mind.  I've said it before, throwing in a short race to your schedule is great for racing mental health.  It lets you know how your muscles recover and how well your head is in it.

I ran the Quadzilla 15k again this year and enjoyed it as much as last year.  The weather was completely different and we had race morning temps already in the high 80's with 80% humidity.  Despite that, I was able to get my mind a little more into it and dropped three minutes from my time last year.  Although I enjoyed the drop in time and a finish in the top 20 women, I realized that I need to improve my mental running game.  I let myself walk more hills than I should and I can rationalize it by thinking ahead to my week in training, to how many miles are left in the race, to not wanting to suffer too much....it all does me no good. If I am going to continue to pursue racing more competitively, I am going to need to learn how to race and how to let myself hurt.

I am still struggling with the mileage.  I am averaging about 35 miles a week and although in general the running feels decent, I know I need to focus on getting my in.  I need to sleep better and longer or those things are going to add up and kill the rest of my season. I know I have a good solid base under my legs, but getting the mileage, the sleep, the eating all under control lends itself to a much stronger mental edge before toeing any start line.  I will start this next month recharged and focused on the mental side of things...getting my head back over my legs.  I will work on my race binder for Oil Creek to keep my head in the long term plan.

I read that it's your legs that get you through the first half of a 100 miler and your head in the second. My head needs to get in the game as much as my legs.  I am running into a new month with a stronger focus and plan of action.  My legs and my head are racing together, so they damn well better get training together.

Back to the Grind.

I loved the 50 mile distance.  I'm thrilled to have finished and felt so good, however that brings up all the other feelings of "I should have pushed harder, moved faster...what could I have done then?"  I tried to push those thoughts from my mind and just concentrate on healing up. I had some tendonititis flare up in my left ankle and right foot and gave myself a full week off to recover.

I kept up with the ice, compression, and elevation. I ended up having to work a 9 day stretch post race, which delayed the healing just slightly, but in the end I came out unscathed.

The following week I jumped in to weight training and designing some cross training workouts to complement my running.  I also dead lifted more than my body weight for the first time, which was kind of cool, and then got back to it!

June 27:     4.22 road to trail, slow and steady.
It was glorious to get back in my shoes and moving!  With no pain--even better!!

June 28:  3.01   hill repeats with a jump rope rest
I am fortunate enough to live by the Manayunk wall, so it is where I head for a good amount of my hill repeats.  It is a 17% grade and will kick you in the guts.  I run up, grab the jump rope for 50 jumps, and head right back down.

June 29:     2.5   Nice and easy
Got the hill repeats out of my legs.

June 30:      8.52  Trail
Got back in the Wiss and on the trails.

Weekly:       18.24  time to get this mileage up!!!

July 1:    2 miles and cross training
8 box jumps                       hi plank-30 sec
10 dips                          30 arm hollers
10 uneven pushups-each side      500m jog
500m jog                         20 walking lunges

July 2:       7.5;    4.25 road to trail,   3 mile hill repeats with jump roping

July 3:      8.02   3.01 road miles-am             5.01 road after work

July 4:      2.6
Way too hot to keep moving

July 6:     8 road fartlek
1 mile easy warm up
5 min. hard finish, the mile easy
1.5 mile easy cool down

July 8:    2 miles (1 warm up, 1 cool down)
30 squats                    10 full push ups            20 tire flips
jump rope                   10 eccentric                weighted walking lunge partner plank               20 v-ups                      superman

-36.5 lb. bulgarian sandbag was weight for squats and lunges


July 9:      15.01      Forbidden Drive and road with stairs.
I won't lie.  My hammies and glutes were in rough shape for this run.  I was breaking in my new kicks (pearl izumi emotion n2)  I felt solid for most of the run and kept my pace around 9-9:15 until I hit the stairs at 13.  Everything sort of went to shit there and I sloooowly made my way home.

July 11:      5.01 road before work.


So there it is....back to it and pretty pumped for the runs, the mileage, and some upcoming races.

Go get some miles.

Ground Beef and Spinach Butternut Squash Lasagna and chocolate chip cookies. (grain free)

Let me first say I use the word lasagna quite loosely.  This is lasagna in that it is a layered dish, but that's about where it ends...but it was delicious no matter what you call it.

We have been following a grain-free, whole foods lifestyle for the past year, and more recently I have been experimenting with my own recipes instead of just following online resources and cookbooks. I have been thinking about trying to make a butternut squash lasagna for quite some time now. We recently ordered Heath Bent's Primal Cravings cookbook and I can't get enough of the recipes so far.  They included a butternut squash lasagna, but it seemed more of a "sub the noodles for butternut squash" type of recipe, so I went searching online.  Again, most seem to be a trade-out-the-noodles kind of deal, so I decided to create my own.

I had hoped to use ground turkey, but since I didn't have any, ground beef it is and it worked quite well.  Here goes nothing..p.s. I'm not the best at measuring, so you may have to play around and add a bit more here and there to taste, but the amounts are pretty close.

Ingredients:

For the lasagna layers:

1 medium-large butternut squash

1 lb. grass fed ground beef

1/4 white onion

~3 cups fresh spinach

salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:

~1/2 can coconut milk

3-4 cloves garlic roughly chopped

~3 Tbs butter

1/2 cup shredded smoked cheddar (although gouda would probably be good too)

~1/2 Tbs tapioca flour (for thickening)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Brown the beef in a pan, add the onions, and saute until tender. 

While the beef is cooking, peel your butternut squash, slice in half lengthwise, and clean out the seeds.

Use a mandolin to slice the butternut squash in thin slices (like lemon wedges)

Cover the bottom of a baking dish with squash slices, add a layer of ground meat, cover with fresh spinach.  Repeat until you are out of meat.  The top layer should be butternut squash (I ended up with three squash layers). Set aside.

Roughly chop your garlic and saute in a pan.

Add sauteed garlic and coconut milk to blender and mix (this would work better if you had a smaller food processor)

Melt butter in a pan and add in the garlic coconut milk mix

While stirring slowly, add in the tapioca flour to thicken, then add cheese and melt (you could do dairy-free and add in more thickener, but I would maybe also add in some sauteed onions to add some flavor; the smokiness of the cheese was a key part here)

Pour the sauce evenly over the dish.  Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top browns.  Slice and enjoy!!

Delicious!

For the cookies:

2/3 cup coconut flour

2 Tbs tapioca flour

2 Tbs honey (I'm sure maple syrup would work)

2 Tbs sunflower seed butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate mega chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

I played lazy and mixed everything but the chocolate in the food processor. 

Pulse until it forms a dough ball.

Mix in chocolate chips and form cookie balls.

Put on parchment paper and smoosh flat.  

Bake for about 15 minutes.

These turned out pretty good for my first ever non-recipe attempt, and it certainly is a bit cheaper than using almond flour every so often.  It made about 12-14 cookies, perfect for dunking in almond milk!

We had a great Sunday at Wyebrook Farm in Honeybrook, Pa.  Amazing food, great views, and a fun day to wander around the farm and visit with the pigs and cows before bringing home a cooler full of fresh grass-fed pasture-raised meats!  Go check it out!

Beautiful view while enjoying a fantastic lunch.

Future Bacon!!!

Cayuga Trails 50. A first-time 50 miler at a first-time race.

Hot damn!  If you are looking for a challenging, but beautiful, east coast run, look no further than Cayuga Trails 50.
      I was nervous as all hell going into this race--not only was it my first 50 miler, but there were course and elevation changes being made in the days before the race.  The final course came with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain--more than I usually see in a month!  I was able to calm my nerves with the fact that the West Rim Trail is around 5,300 feet of gain over 30 miles and I scrambled through that a month before. Anyway, on to the real news...the race!

Loving that uniform!

I was originally going to head up to Ithaca on the Thursday before the race and relax and check out the area.  Due to some crappy rain coming through and a few other changes, I ended up driving up on Friday afternoon.  It rained for the entire four-and-a-half hour drive, muddy trails dancing in my head as we plugged along and got into town just as the pre-race briefing was letting out.  I ran into my training partner and we decided to go for some food at viva taqueria with a friend of his. If I run the race again next year, I'm eating here again, as it was pretty damn good race fuel.

We headed to the hotel and ran into another Philadelphia runner, one who I actually had run some local races with and had met at work a few months before.  He is a kick ass runner and this was also his first 50.  He was strong and up front all day, but took a spill in the creek and had to hike the last 8 miles.  He still finished with a great time!

I got all my race stuff laid out and the backpack set for Heather and her crewing duties.  I decided to hop on the foam roller and get a last minute session in, which I am very glad I did.  Around 11pm my phone rang and it was my friend Tanya, the Scott rep.  She was still out at the start of the course with Ian the RD.  It had started raining and some of the markings had come down, so Ian was re-running the course in his underwear to make sure it was well-marked while she was setting up tables with food and coffee and everything else for registration and breakfast.  It wasn't her job to do it, but she stayed until 4am to make sure that runners would be taken care of in the morning...fucking amazing.

Tanya with Sage Canaday ( I still can't believe I didn't get a picture with him)

She got back to the hotel just as we were waking up, so I promised to bring her coffee at the start.  I jumped in the car and headed into Ithaca to try and find a 24 hour deli that we had seen earlier in the evening.  Instead I got lost and wound up at a Mobil gas station...at least the coffee was hot.  I grabbed two cups and headed back to the hotel.  As I got out of the car, I found a heads up nickel on the ground.  I'm not superstitious, but I did secretly think of it as good luck.

Heather was up and ready, so I threw on my running uniform (no matter how many shirts and shorts I own, I always seem to go back to the same things).  My biggest debate was which shoes I would be wearing for the day.  I wear my Montrail Rogue Fly for nearly all of my running, but with the muddy conditions I was debating on the Bajada.  I chose to start in the Rogue Fly and change if needed. We hopped in the car and headed to the start.  I found my friends Tanya and Matt and his friend Jen for the start.

Matt, Jen, and I before the race

I felt very calm going into this race. Even when they announced the course and elevation changes, I somehow stayed very calm.  Maybe it was the exam I had taken on Thursday that had used up all of my nerves (I passed by the way!) or maybe for once I was able to wrap my head around the idea of just finishing since it was my first 50.

   

Ian made a few quick announcements and at 6am the horn sounded and we were off.  We headed out through a field and up a fire road into the woods, a 3.1 mile ascent into the first aid station.  I made sure to be diligent about eating and every 30-40 minutes ate a VFuel peach cobbler gel. I topped off my bottle with water, grabbed a few more gels from Heather, and was off.  I had left Matt and Jen and was plugging away getting into a comfortable pace.

The next 3.8 miles was very runnable and I made good time of it.  I found myself constantly debating about whether moving too fast would hurt me later, but I kept moving regardless.  I decided that if I hit that rough dark point later I would just work to get out of it.  I went through the next aid station the same as the first and encountered the first creek crossing.  A lovely waist-deep chilly crossing, but since we would be going through this again and there was a fine mist in the air, it never really crossed my mind to worry about changing shoes and socks.
   
There were so many ups and downs by this point they all sort of ran together.  There was one quite brutal uphill switchback, which in reading some of the leaders' blogs they said was totally runnable, but for most of us it was a hike.  I did, however, learn I am a pretty good uphill hiker and I ended up passing a great number of runners that didn't catch up.  The mud was the toughest part.  As more and more runners were trudging back and forth over the trails, the mud became worse and it was like ice skating.  Every foot step was met with a slide.  The once small ankle-deep mug bog turned into a few miles of heavy mud.  Luckily, there was a road crossing where we could stomp out the mud before heading back into the trails.

Around mile 20, Sage and the other leaders made their way back along the course.  I actually got to say hello and see them all running, which was so cool.  It was just the push I needed to get me into the aid station at mile 25.  A quick coke and back to it for another fine loop.  I wish I had counted the number of steps we climbed up and down over the course of 50 miles, but I probably would have lost track anyway.  The water fall, the steps, the views...absolutely amazing.  It didn't how bad my quads were burning, you couldn't help but smile when you looked around at how beautiful this course really was.

Buttermilk Falls

I reminded myself to just keep smiling, which really wasn't all that difficult since I was really enjoying myself.  There was so much beautiful scenery to look at that the miles just seemed to fly on. It wasn't until I hit mile 36 that I hit a rough patch.  I started to feel a little twinge in my left hip that slowly made its way into my knee and I was soon walking very painfully and panicking about something going wrong with my ACL.  I tried to stretch it and found that galloping was the easiest way to move, so that's how I made my way into the next aid station at mile 38.1.  I talked to Heather, filled my bottle, and got some gel,s all while debating on what to do.  With 12 miles to go I decided (with a little pushing) to get going.  The next aid station was 5.7 miles away, so I would see how it felt there.  I made my way up the stairs and away from the aid station.  The uphill stretched out my knee and I figured it was IT band issues.  Suddenly, everything just seemed to click and I felt like I was running on someone else's legs.  I had a very fast section into the next aid station and came in with a huge smile on my face.

Always smiling!

After that it was just a few short miles to the second to last aid station and...I didn't see Heather.  I felt really bad, but decided to get going because I knew I was close to the 11 hour mark and really wanted to try to get in under it.  I got my legs moving and headed to the end, while crossing my fingers and hoping Heather would be there!  I headed through the woods, looking back once to see if anyone was behind me, and headed to the last descent.  I rounded the last corner and there were Tanya and Heather cheering away!  Someone had told them I went through the last aid station and they hurried to the finish.  I was so excited that I kicked with everything I had around the field and down the final stretch. 10:52 for the finish of my first 50.  I really enjoyed the distance and will definitely be doing a few more.

Under 11 for my first 50!

The stairs, the waterfalls, the mud, and the climbing all came together to make a tough race, but an awesome race.  I had the best time ever.  Thinking back, it never seemed like I was on my feet all day.  I am recovering well and would love to get out the door for a shake-out run soon.  It seems the only nagging pain is the flexor tendon on my left leg.  Hopefully nothing a little rest, ice, and ibuprofen can't fix! I can't wait to get back out on the trails.

Best Hug Ever.

So happy to have finished!!

   

Racing for mental health.

You know...I walked away after writing yesterday feeling...blah.  I couldn't figure out why the words weren't coming to me and why I was just not feeling like my usual excited-to-run-and-write self.  About halfway through my day it dawned on me.  I was feeling uninspired.  I have been feeling uninspired and it makes sense when I look at it.

      Since running the West Rim trail (yes, I'll ramble a bit more about it), it has really set in just how disappointed I am with my time and effort.  I know that I can go faster--much faster--and I want to go back--I need to go back and make it right; if for no other reason than to settle my mind.  I also realized that my running has been rather stagnant.  I have been feeling a bit like a hamster on a wheel; the same commute, the same day repeating at work, the same run in the morning, the same textbook night in and out. Yes, I realize that's how studying works and that there are many places to run around near where I live, but between working, commuting, and filling all the other waking hours with studying, gyming, and running, it doesn't leave too much time for exploring--hence that oh-so-stagnant feeling of blah.

    I let my running fall into the same routine as work, so it began to feel like work.  Running never feels like work--it's what has always gotten me away from work! I also realized that I haven't raced since last October.  Well, hot damn, that's longer than I thought.  I put so much thinking into the 50 miler and the West Rim that I never once looked around at smaller check-in races.

    I think races qualify as mental health.  I don't mean the reward of winning, or even placing for that matter.  But the simple notion of being surrounded by the craziness that is trail running and the people that love it makes for a wonderful experience.  I started to forget what that felt like, and after seeing some race photos from this year's Uberendurance Sports Dirty German, I forgot how damn much I missed racing.  Not so much that race maybe, but being out exploring new trails, meeting new people, and learning new lessons on the trail.

   I feel a renewed sense of excitement about the upcoming 50 miler and the rest of the season.  I just need to remind myself to add in some of the shorter mental health races and enjoy!!

Run on my friends...and just keep smiling.

 

Life moves pretty fast....if you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.

It has been a little while...the last few weeks have just flown by with little sign of stopping!  I got a few more photos from the West Rim Trail adventure, courtesy of Vince Camiolo.  They are amazing and I feel so badass when I flip through them.  I absolutely cannot wait to get back up there!!  But, first thing is first--get through the 50 mile race.  June 8th is fast approaching and that means two things: my exam will be over and I will attempting my longest race to date.  I'm a bit nervous for both.

Fueling up at the start

      Recently, the race director made an announcement about a little bit of a change in elevation.  It was originally posted to be around 6,500 ft of gain.  A runner out checking out the course found that one loop had about 5,500, so we will be looking at more like 11,000 ft gain for the 50 miles (this was the original elevation profile).  Hot damn....get ready for some hiking!!  I'm still excited, but am really trying to concentrate on the idea of just finishing and getting all number goals out of my head.  I'll secretly let them roll around until I hopefully hit the finish line. * update, as of this morning the course has been changed yet again...the elevation is now 10,500 with a 15 hour cutoff.  We'll see if this changes again in the next week!!

    Between working full time, studying, and getting in training/shadow hours at the gym, I haven't been putting in as many miles as I had hoped since the WRT; averaging about 40-45 a week.  I wish I had done more hill repeats, but it's a bit late now! My goal it to get a ton of sleep leading up to the race and get as much studying in as possible.  I need to kick this exam's ass...I am so ready for change!!  I am also shopping around for a new GPS watch.  I dig the Timex, but can't upload anything and would like to get elevation.  My Garmin seems to only like road running anymore and loses the signal on trail like it's going out of style.  Ultrarunner problems....

   Anyway, back to the daily grind and off to work.

Completing the West Rim Trail- women's unsupported speed record.

It's done.  As with anything else, I'd love to have done a million different things a million different ways, but in the end I finished.  I completed the West Rim Trail from south to north in 6 hours 30 minutes.  My Garmin clocked the total distance at 29.7 miles, while my Timex Marathon clocked at 31.5.  As I have found no other record for running this trail, it seems that it is indeed the current female unsupported record.
 

Southern Termius-Blackwell PA (photo credit to Vince Camiolo)

First thing is first...I should have looked at the map a bit more carefully before heading out.  I had never been on the trail before and lost a good bit of time to double checking my route and pulling out the map to verify.  When reviewing the Garmin upload, I found I lost more than 20 minutes to this.

Second-I was quite conservative with the hills.  I kept thinking of my upcoming 50 mile race and opting to hike instead.  I lost quite a bit of time in hiking rather than running.

Third-I stupidly made the choice to keep running and not refill my bottles at the pump halfway through.  I had two bottles at the 15 mile point and figured that was enough.  Dumb.  Again, going back to the first point, I hadn't looked at a map and didn't know exactly what the trail ahead would look like.  I ran out around mile 28.

Fourth- I need to slap myself in the face every time I decide to wait 45 minutes to eat instead of every 30..and then turn the 45 into an hour.  I deserve the leg cramping.  It certainly counts as a learning experience.

Fifth- Holy shit, this trail is awesome!  Running alongside the steep cliff all day was amazing.  The view never failed to amaze.

The Pine Creek Gorge

I will, without a single doubt in my mind, be back to better my time.  I will do the trail unsupported again for sure.  But here is the rundown.

5/1/2013 8:25am  I began running from the southern terminus of the West Rim Trail in Blackwell, PA.  The elevation had me at a hike by mile 2; again, I went conservatively knowing I had an upcoming race, as well as not knowing the whole trail.  I was running very comfortably under 10 minute miles and hiking the hills.  The views were utterly beautiful and we could not have had a better day.  I was feeling strong past the 8 mile mark and looking ahead with excitement.

To start, temps were in the mid 50's and slowly climbed throughout the morning. By around 11, they were approaching 70.  Since there wasn't a ton of tree cover yet, there was a lot of direct sun so it was very hot.  I remember hearing my heart beating in my ears very loudly.  I was beginning to struggle a bit around mile 12, and was excited to hit the halfway mark to refill bottles and see some more views.  

I came in to mile 15 at about 3 hours 6 minutes and was feeling strong.  Strong enough that I just kept right on through and didn't look around for the pump to refill.  I was running well and thought if I kept it up I could get into the finish under 6 hours, so I went for it.  I was focused on a time at this point and it got the better of me.  So conscious of the other race and not blowing up earlier, I let my excitement take over and it turned into a mistake.  Not terrible, but one I ended up losing time for.

I continued through with my pace all over the place.  I ran well where I could, cruising the flats, still under 10 minute mile pace, and just seemed to lose it on the hikes.  The uphills were long and arduous and seemed to go on forever.  In retrospect, I should have run them over hiking, but hindsight is always 20/20, now isn't it. I had my first cramp at around mile 20, but was able to run through it and keep moving. 

I came out of the trail at mile 22 and saw Erik sitting on a downed tree.  He had gone out really hard and blew up and cramped at 20, hobbled to 22, and was getting picked up.  I shot down into the woods and back to the single track feeling good to be out of the sun for a bit.  It didn't last long.  I started cramping again after stepping over a large downed tree and hiked for a while. Mentally, this was a tough thing to do; there is no aid station to enjoy or use as a mile goal, no finish line food...just you and your legs plugging along.  It made me realize more than ever just how much I love trail running, and the challenges of long distance.

The struggling face...cramps and hiking.

From mile 22 to 25 I was just trudging along hoping to be done.  I had cramps in my inner thighs switching from one leg to the other, and I was trying to use my hand helds for momentum while hiking.  Looking at my watch and seeing the miles tick closer to the end, I was able to pick my pace up for the last few miles and pop out of the woods with Erik and Vince just hopping out of the car for a photo finish.  I completed the West Rim Trail in an unsupported effort.  The official measured trail says 30.5, Strava says 29.6, and Timex says 31.5.  Whichever way it is, it's done.  I will be back soon to do it all again.

Finished. 6:30:00

I opted to wear my Ultimate Direction race vest and carry two hand held bottles.  I used VFuel peach cobbler gels. I wore both my Garmin 110 and my Timex Marathon GPS watches.  Through my training, I noticed that my Garmin is consistently under on mileage compared to the Timex, as well as the Nike watches.  I wish the Timex data was up-loadable; I may look in to the new run trainer that they just put out.  I will update a gear list and some reviews soon.

I'm glad to have it official, but as much as I made the decision to hold back, I can't help but be disappointed with my time.  I can't wait to go back and beat it!!