i wish i knew how to quit you

a fast person has stolen my body....

and is running all over town with it!

i don't know what's gotten into me, but lately my runs can do no wrong.  one good run after another and i love it!!!

here are my splits from today's, what i call my "usual run".  its a reasonable hilly 4.6 mile loop around my neighborhood.  notice those 7's in there??  craaazy.  and for reference my previous best time on this loop was 39:50. 

this is so exciting!!!

20 miles and clipless pedals

yay!  the last real long run of my marathon training is complete!!  ran 20 miles on saturday, and it feels so good to have it done and out of the way.  it was also a pretty big confidence booster going into the actual marathon. my pace has been getting progressively better with each long run, and this one was no exception.  it looks like i really may have a shot at breaking 4 hours which would be incredible!

20.17 miles / 3:08:27 / 9:21 avg pace

the other exciting news (and second half of my very exciting title) is that josh and i took the plunge and got clipless pedals for our bikes this weekend.  the first 3 mins of attempting to get my shoe into the pedal were pretty foolish, but after that, its been easy peasy.  we've been practicing up and the down the street and around the neighborhood, and we hope to take them for an actual spin sometime early this week. 

here are the shoes that i got.

we decided to go with the spd system, but my shoes have the right holes on the bottom for both spd and real road bike pedals, so that is cool.  as a quick review, these shoes are really nice and comfortable.  they conform nicely to my feet and the ratchet thingy in the back provides for a really good fit.  i tried on some pearl izumis that were garbage by comparison.  i'll keep everyone informed of the number of times i fall over.  so far its only about 0.5 (no real fall, just a wobble as i forgot to take my 2nd foot out before i tried to get off the bike.  haah)

in the month of may

stats for may (a little more detailed this time.  yay!):

running: 141.9 miles in 22 hours and 17 mins for an average of 9:25 min/mile pace
biking: 29.5 miles
pilates classes: 1
spinning classes: 2

goals for june:

this is kind of tricky because i'll be spending most of june tapering for the seattle rock and roll marathon on june 25, but i would love to break 150 miles in one month, so if not june then july.  i'm also a little afraid to admit it, because then somehow its real, but i'm going to throw it out there...i've been thinking about doing a triathlon.  just a sprint distance to start, but i'd really love to do a half ironman.  i mean really, it makes good sense.  i'm a pretty good swimmer (left over from years of high school swim) and i've really been enjoying the bike rides that josh and i have been taking and of course, i like running.  duh.  so another one of my june goals is to get clipless pedals for my hybrid and start riding more! (lets say "more" means 100 miles; need to have measurable goals, after all) and while i'm at it, my 3rd june goal is to swim at least 3 times.  that should be a good start in case i want to get all craaaazy and sign up for one of these things.  :)

(for those of you unfamiliar with tri distances, here are the distances:

sprint (can vary, but usually): swim 0.5 mile, bike 10 miles, run 3 miles
HIM (half ironman) (also known as an ironman 70.3): swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, run 13.1 miles
ironman: swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run *A MARATHON * 26.2 miles)

anyone out there reading my blog ever do a triathlon?  its just sounds so different from a road race, what with all the transitions and all.  any first time stories?  advice?  and don't all comment at once...i don't want to get overwhelmed.  :)

weekend race recap

ahhhh...this weekend was just what i needed.  (and its not even over.  score!)  the sun and (lots of) warmth finally came to new england.  we went from 50 and rainy last week, to nearly 90 and humid this week.  the spring to summer transition never fails to disappoint!

karen and i had signed to up to do a couple of races this weekend (of COMMEMORATIVE cup fame)(which failed to materialize, tho i DID get a pretty sweet coozie... so all is not lost)  first up was a 5k on saturday (new PR of 24:19) and today was a 5 miler (new PR of 40:55).  the 5k was cooler but hilly, and the 5 miler was flat but HOT.  so i was kind of in pain both days.  (as you shall sooooon see).  karen didn't end up running either race due to super annoying ongoing calf issues, but her huz dave took her place in the 5k, so that was cool.

i'm not very good at race reports, and since i had a built in race photographer, i'm going to let the pictures from this weekend do the story telling.

we started both races feeling fresh and fine!

the gun went off  *bam* and away we went!

 

it kinda went, run run run, this isn't too hard, run run run, halfway there, run run run, yeah i'm getting pretty tired, run run run, i.am.dyyyyyying.  and scene.

then we finished!  and boy were we tired.  like really tired.

(do i have the best running pain look you've ever seen, or what?)
i wasn't the only one that was tired tho.

and then it was time for post race food and drink!  and we were feeling (pretty) fresh and fine again!

have a great memorial day all!!!

new food faves

since i starting running again, eating healthy has been something i've been attempting...meaning, i don't always get there, but i'm kinda sorta always trying.  and so i thought i'd share a few foods i've found along the way that make this better eating a little tastier.

there are only a handful of foods i won't eat in this world; sweet potatoes, watermelon (i'm weird, i know), cucumbers (i'm getting better with these)...
cottage cheese used to be on this list, but since i've discovered these breakstone cottage doubles, i am LOVING it!  and i always feel good about finding ways to get more calcium in my diet, since milk is probably another food i should add to the do-not-do list.  my favorite flav so far is the pinapple, but they have all been really yummy!

some have compared them to prunes, and i suppose i should add a disclaimer that they may make you a bit gassy, but don't let that stop you from trying the deep chocolate vitatop!  especially with some chobani and/or banana...mmmmmm, deeelish (or with mighty maple peanut butter like this girl.  plus, they're fortified (like your cereal).  winning!  (is that old now?  prob.)

and that brings us to my last fav...chobani yogurt. after years of eating diet yoplait, the creamy texture kind of threw me off a bit, but now that i'm used to them i could never go back to those watery, tasteless yoplaits. i found out about these through some peeps at work (who it seems were practically forming their own chobani fan club for awhile, but who can blame them).  the going favorite seems to be pomegranate, but once again, i think pineapple is the best.

what are some good healthy foods that you have happily stumbled upon?

the countdown is on

today marks the official one-month-until-the-marathon mark. 

i'm finally starting to feel all these emotions...excitement, fear, anticipation, disbelief.  it really hasn't seemed real until just recently and i still can't believe that in 1 month i will be a marathoner!!  almost time to get a 26.2 sticker for my car.  haha.

here's the course map and elevation.  i'm totally ready to get this party started!