The Feed Zone

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

We have been busy. The Goofy was great. Except...Sarah and I did get sick... we think it is from the water at the drink stations. Not completely sure, but we were feeling great, and then after two days of stopping at each drink stop and guzzling down our fair share we both ended up with some major stomach issues. I suppose it could be the fact that we ran 39.3 Miles in two days but.. ya never know. We took those races easy and had a blast, we stopped and took pics with sooo many characters. Along with the water stops, and bathroom stops.... we think it was the water.

Here is Sarah and I at some point during the 1/2. Yes it was dark. Disney is the only place I know that starts a race at 5:30am on the button. But, regardless of the early hour, they make it very magical. Fireworks, Characters, pixie dust...Disney does it best.

This was us at the end of the Marathon. We brought our 1/2 marathon medal in our bags with us that day because there was no way we were running 39.3 miles and not getting credit it for it. We brought home 3 blinging medals that trip =) Shortly after this pic I started eating a protein bar... and my day went downhill from there. By the end of the day I made a trip to the ER because I could not keep a single thing down. BOO.

Aside from that we have been in winter recovery mode. I was feeling alright after I got over the Disney experience but then ran into a nasty flu that lasted 2 weeks. It was horrible.

But now the sun is out, the snow is gone (hopefully for good) and I am back to running and training for my next marathon. I have chosen the Colfax marathon here in Denver. It isn't going to be a super easy marathon, but my plan is to just attempt to not give up!  During that goofy I learned a lot about myself as a runner. When running the 1/2, I wanted to give up between miles 8-11, but then I was good. During the marathon I wanted to give up between miles 15-20 and then I was fine. There are always times during whatever race that I always want to give up, but I always thought it was because I was running a much faster pace. My new theory is that regardless of pace I will want to give up during those miles. So if I can figure out how to overcome that mental block, I will be real happy =)

Also, I have tried to eat more real food while running. Looking at GU lately makes me irritated.

Check out this new amazing cookbook, The Feed Zone Cookbook. I stumbled upon it and had to try it. I suggest you do the same, give it a whirl and tell me what you think. I have tried the Chocolate Peanut Coconut Rice cakes and it was a success! During my 18 miler last week I had 2 "blocks" of this and never once did I want to bonk. I also noticed that my recovery was easy peasy.

Sorry it is backwards, but the cover was so pretty I wanted you to see a pic. Totally buy this book for its cover. I think it will be worth it ;) Oh, and p.s. I did not get this book for free. I bought it with my hard earned cash.

Who is running what this year?

What is your favorite marathon? -Mine used to be Disney....and although it is still very magical it has been tainted. Time to find a new favorite.

Do any of you have any good portable running food recipes?


Here is to Spring and Happy Running!!

-Jen

Before and After with a Salad

Do you remember last Saturday when I told you I bought these Nike shorts for my marathon.  Well I tested them out to see if they ride up too much.  I bought the 5" length ones and I LOVE them!  I had never ran in tight shorts like these so I was hesitant.  But as I got going they felt great.  Almost as if I had nothing on, but in a comfortable way.

I will say that they did ride up a little but not enough to make me think that my bum cheeks were showing.  Thank goodness! I also really wanted to test them, so I never pulled them down once and as you can see from my pictures they hardly moved up.  So yep, these are the winners.  My sisters and I are all running in the same outfit!  We will show you the rest of it later.  Can't wait! Only 9 more days till RACE DAY!!

A little over a month ago I wanted to pump up my veggie intake so I made up my own food rule/guideline/diet.  It is called the salad once a day diet.  I try my very hardest to eat a salad once a day.  Simple as that.  I would say that it is going pretty well and I have about a 95% success rate.  The trick is that you have to mix up the ingredients.  I usually buy the Taylor's organic salad mixes.  At first I was really into the herb salad mix but now I have moved onto the the baby spring mix.  I will seriously throw whatever I have in my fridge into my salad.  Some days are better than others but I will say eating my greens everyday helps me feel so much better!! (and I change up the dressing, but always remember to take it easy on the dressing or it just defeats the purpose)

If I am really not feeling a salad I will make a salad mix(this case, with tuna) and just put it on some bread to make an open faced sandwich.

I am in charge of doing activities for the kids in our church and so last night we headed to the park for some games and I brought fruit salad to munch on.  The kids loved it!  No I don't really count this as my greens for the day but I definitely love eating fruit in the summer.  Plus I think it tastes like you are eating dessert when you are eating fruit salad.

The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.  We played Red Rover.  Do you remember that game?

The Westminster 13.1

This Saturday I am running a 1/2 marathon. I have set a goal for myself that I know I am physically capable of doing. BUT, that being said I am still a very big beginner when it comes to racing and although your body can handle something your own brain can end up becoming your worst enemy.

For this race I decided, it is time to tell my brain who is boss and run "Guns to the Max" (One of my friends uses that saying and I just happen to really like it).  Now, you must understand that I am currently training for a marathon (Grandmas) and I have not done any specific training for this race.  My tempo runs are at marathon pace and my long runs are slow.  I do a speed workout twice a week with my running club (which I absolutely LOVE) and I am hoping that all of this mixed together will end up giving me a good overall time.

So, of course I am nervous.  And what happens to me when I get nervous........ I dunno, I go to pick up my race packet and end up purchasing all kinds of goodies that I don't need.... but of course it is OK because I got an additional 25% off.  All the stuff you see below is a variety of what I do typically use when running a marathon.  I haven't found my favorite cocktail of GU, Sport Beans, Roctane, shot bloks, etc. so I decided to add to my current collection (which as I hope you imagine is plenty big and I will be running several marathons before I actually go through all of it). Oh, and the extra socks and grid foam roller just happened to end up in my pile while checking out.  oopps.

During the 1/2 I will most likely use at most 2 GU's or something of that nature.  On a side note, today I went for a slow recovery run, only ate a Yogurt before thinking I would feel fine.  During the middle of the run I ended up having a blood sugar issue.  So I found some gobstoppers, pounded about 5 and felt a ton better.  Now I am wondering, do I just mostly need sugar? or is all the extra stuff found in GU, etc. really necessary? I dunno, I bought plenty of both and decided I will carry some sour patch kids with me just as a chaser in case I am feeling on a sugar low.  With 36g of sugar per serving, I think I will be fine. cheers.=)

I get nervous before every single speed or tempo run as it is, let along an actual race.  I am typically not the competitive type.  I would consider it a weakness of mine. But I would like to turn that weakness into a strength and sooooo on we go. WISH ME LUCK=) and for all of you Colorado peeps who live somewhere near Westminster come run! It is a small race and very reasonably priced.

Come on out Colorado Runners, it will be a great way to start your spring running season.