Roxymama's 5k to Marathon, Time to Collect Another Castle

[roxymama]

@Ariel484 It had me take 5 bok choys (they come in little bunches) and chop off the very end that holds them together. Then I seperated the little leaf &stem parts and put on a cookie sheet. I drizzled olive oil on them and about two cloves of minced garlic and salt and pepper on the pan and kind of mixed it all up and seperated the bok choy back out flat all over the pan. then cooked at 425 for about 5 minutes. I kinda burned the very ends of the leaves so maybe back off that time. They were good but I kind of half failed with the burning.

 

[Ariel484]

@Ariel484 It had me take 5 bok choys (they come in little bunches) and chop off the very end that holds them together. Then I seperated the little leaf &stem parts and put on a cookie sheet. I drizzled olive oil on them and about two cloves of minced garlic and salt and pepper on the pan and kind of mixed it all up and seperated the bok choy back out flat all over the pan. then cooked at 425 for about 5 minutes. I kinda burned the very ends of the leaves so maybe back off that time. They were good but I kind of half failed with the burning.

Hmm...that does sound better than what I tried, though. The few times I tried I sautéed the bok choy and it never came out well. I definitely have grown to like roasting vegetables more than sautéeing. I'll have to try that!

 

[SarahDisney]

Also (possibly TMI gross warning) my whole house smelled like garlic because of the meal I cooked and I'm pretty sure I smelled like garlic at the gym and I could be wrong but I think I was sweating garlic. I hope I did not offend anyone or make anyone hungry for garlic bread :/

See, this is why I don't go to the gym. I don't need to be craving garlic bread while at the gym. Seriously.

Weekend LR 5 mi 11:14 pace
SO BADLY WANT TO RUN IT OUTSIDE, PLEASE DON'T RAIN OR SNOW!

Do you happen to know any anti-rain/snow dances?
I hope the weather is perfect for your run!

I think you're doing awesome sticking to your plan and preparing for your race. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[roxymama]

Haha @SarahDisney , yes that's why you need to stay away from gyms!

And I think I know a rain dance but not the opposite. Maybe I'll dust off my yoga mat and do some sun salutations?

 

[roxymama]

It's the weekend! I'm guessing you've all been on pins and needles waiting to hear how my blind tempo run went and also how my new leggings look? Well you've come to the right place!

So first here's my smaller self in my crazy bird leggings which A) fit! and B) make me happy. These are definitely not running tights, they are soft and loungey though.

And here they are in the sunlight to show how...ahem...bright they are.


I also got some boring black ones I'm wearing today. I'm down to two lbs away from my original goal weight so I'm thinking I'll put my wedding weight here as a "reach goal" which was 145. I'm pretty tall and I've had a kiddo and I love food but who says I can't. I've come this far. That's a size small top cause they said to size down. Yeah it's meant to be baggy but whatevs!


Ignore the pile of "art" on the ground behind me. Haha

Ok now to running again. I had a tempo run on the docket for .5 mil warmup and cool down with a 3 mile tempo run in the middle. Tempo for me has been 9:37 and I've been doing them all on the treadmill, set it and forget it. I mentioned having pacing issue running outside and Dopeybadger thought a blind run was a good idea. Basically covering the Garmin and running by effort. He suggested tape but I used my thumb hole sleeves instead.
Like this

Blurry but there's a watch under there. It was s bit chilly so worked for me.

I'd like to thank my hubby for ordering dinner so I could go run and then eat when I got back. All before the sun went down.


So my big hesitation was wondering if I'd fail in either going too fast or too slow. But then I told myself...how is either failing...it's just gonna tell me how I run and that's good cause then I know what I'm working with personally.
The .5 warmup was a breeze...ran to the "starting line" of my local 5k route which is conveniently close to my house.
My goal was to be around 9:37 pace and I ended up at 9:47! Shocker and success. My graph showed some wild fluctuations which I sent to DopeyCoach thinking that was a bad thing. The fastest was 8:56 and slowest was 10:20 something. But he said to focus on my splits. I'm not used to looking at splits bc I'm still a novice at all this pace stuff. But here's what my app showed (this does not include my warmup)

Ok so crazy that I hit 9:37 on the head for mile 1. Like how the heck?
I did feel myself slowing at mile 2 and I know it's because I went out too fast at the first .5 mile. I recognize that and I'm gonna fix that. I did bounce back after my least favorite part of my route which is 4 long blocks out and back. Physically my legs felt heavy towards the end but my breathing was in check. I thought I had one more mile at pace in me but not sure I can sustain that for 5 just yet.
I pulled up my Feb race splits (first time I looked at them...guess I should start doing that more) and it's not too far off from same pattern.



Looking back at all my races my first mile is always fastest.

So the plan now is to on purpose add ten sec. to my first mile (when I go back to staring at my watch a lot) and try to make my first mile the slow one. I'm game for that and think it should help me.

But I'm excited that my fitness is improving and I've got some kind of internal metronome happening. Glad I used the 5k "course" this time. Maybe I'll go off route next time.

Plan is 5 miles for hubby today, 5 miles for me tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and here's my bad attempts at my first ever run selfie.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Keep up the great work. You're doing a great job and you should be super proud of your blinded tempo run outcome.

 

[SarahDisney]

Those bird leggings are awesome! And congrats on being so close to your original goal weight - I think you can make it to your wedding weight if you keep working hard!

I'm going to start off by saying that I'm certainly no running expert, but ... I always pay attention to my splits, not the graph. Sometimes I'll look at the graph just to see how close I was to my average pace the whole time, but I don't really put much stock in what it says. I think that for myself (and this may be the case for you as well), there will always be times when I'm a little faster and times when I'm a little slower, but as long as my mile splits are close to where they should be, to me that's a good, consistent run. (Of course, I'm also terrible at pace in general, so I don't know how much you want to pay attention to what I do, but when I was trying to focus on my pace, I always paid attention to the mile splits and trying to make the first mile and the last mile as close to each other as I possibly could).

You really are doing so awesome!!

 

[roxymama]

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement. Not every week is easy so it's nice to have little wins along the way. I'm going to be better about this split business. Something as a fairly new runner I didn't quite have down yet, but it makes total sense. Have a good week to you all. Back to the grind and more running tomorrow. Nothing for me today!!!

 

[Ariel484]

You look soooo cute in your pictures! Those leggings are awesome (especially the bird leggings).

 

[roxymama]

Since I've been littering this thread with pictures of food, why stop now. Last night I made a Cuban Sandwich with kale & plantain salad from my Blue Apron delivery. At first I thought that a sandwich seemed like an odd and easy dinner choice, but there was actually a lot of work that went into it. I seared and then oven baked a pork loin, I made my own pickles from cucumbers/vinegar/sugar, pan fried the plaintains, and made my own vinagrette from scratch. I felt like one of those Master Chef/Top Chef people. They came out huge and were really filling so I didn't feel like it was diet food (with all that meat, cheese and bread it really wasn't) but I am happy to make a big meal without resorting to my usual "stuff from the freezer, stuff from a box kit" routine.
Here's a pic of my week's worth of stash and then my finished sandwich and salad (sorry for the bite mark.)




Tonight I make a Chicken Cacciatore which is actually right in my wheelhouse since I make pasta and grilled chicken like every couple of days. At least I'll be making my own sauce and using fresh mushrooms instead of can and jar stuff.

No running tonight and no Bachelor!!! What will I do with myself??? Laundry? Yay?
Running tomorrow though.

 

[Ariel484]

That sandwich looks soooo good!!!

Dancing with the Stars??!

 

[roxymama]

That sandwich looks soooo good!!!

Dancing with the Stars??!

We watched the Voice and it was only just meh. I also ate an unfortunate amount of jelly beans. So that happened. Gotta run tomorrow!

 

[Ariel484]

We watched the Voice and it was only just meh. I also ate an unfortunate amount of jelly beans. So that happened. Gotta run tomorrow!

I watched the first season of The Voice and was hooked...haven't watch it since.

 

[ZellyB]

Yay!! I finished reading and am all caught up on your journal. What an amazing year you had and congratulations on achieving so many goals! Really inspiring. There were probably a million things I thought about to comment on as reading, but decided I'd mostly just jump in at this point rather than trying to catch up to everything. I did have to comment on this...

I used to check Tom & Lorenzo's blog every single day years ago when I followed Project Runway so closely. Since having my kiddo most of my "shows" got scrapped for Mickey Mouse ClubHouse and disney jr. stuff.
So now I definitely want to check out their stuff again.

I love TLO. I did subscribe to their podcast a while back, but haven't listened to any of them yet. I need to do that!!! They crack me up on their blog. Plus, pictures of pretty people in pretty clothes. Sometimes I'm so shallow.

I love your leggings and those bird ones are pretty awesome. Happy to be joining in and will try to keep up now.

 

[roxymama]

Thanks for reading through everything @ZellyB
I know that is a lot of repetitive stuff about treadmill speeds and my anxieties, so I appreciate you looking through it all. Maybe one of these days I will need to go back and read through it all to remind myself of all the crazy things I did last year that were so out of my comfort zone. Might be a fun idea for when I finish my current book.

I can't believe how close I am to approaching my next goal to check off the list with my first 8k. Only 10 days away!!!
And speaking of, here is a sneak peek at the lovely medal that they announced for that race. It features both sparkles AND a way to open adult beverages...win and win! So if anything, whatever pace my body decides to output on race day, at least I can sparkle and have a cold one (or two or three.)

It also appears that this will be our freebie shirt and I really like it. I probably am going to wear my grey and green South-side Irish tech shirt for this run since I'm used to it. And it represents my 'hood.

and finally we also get sunglasses which I won't use or wear because I am not a contact wearing person..prescription spectacles for me...but I'm for sure going to try to get a cute pic of my kid in these.

So my plan for the week (even though I realize I'm already most of the way through my week.)
Monday: No Bachelor (tears)
Tuesday: I ran 2.5 miles at the gym. I felt like I could have banged out more...my body was very relaxed and comfortable...but it was hotter than average and it was sweaty and I'm sticking to my plan goshdarnit. I came home and said to my husband...wouldn't it be great if all marathons were only 2.5 miles and he just shook his head at me. Yeah, I'm guessing everyone would be marathoners if that was the case.
Wed: WEIRD DAY! I expected a normal normal normal day but I had to take a half day off to take kiddo to the doctor for something that ended up being nothing...daycare being overly cautious which can I really fault them for that? I'd rather they be cautious. But I don't handle my routines being broken up well generally. Luckily she was fine and is fine and we had extra bonding time. My hubby went to his swim practice and I lumped in bed watching youtubes about how to apply makeup to your face in ways I may never be good at or try. Fun night
Thur: my speedy night on the treadmill. .5 mi WU, 3 mi @ Tempo 9:37, .5 mi cooldown. Back to running my tempo while on my metronome machine. My brain is in a good place for this one. Gotta hydrate well and eat well today so my body can be on the same page. Next week my tempo is at 3.5 mi...ack!
Fri: off all day with my family, finding adventures if we aren't covered in snow from tonight's storm. blech
Sat: 5 mile morning @11:14 - outside! Hoping this one feels really good. Hoping!
Sun: Easter bunny comes. Ham and cake and hopefully semi-smart eating decisions.

A final thing...my baby started swim school last week and she goes again this week. It's the cutest place with tiny kid lanes, salt water instead of chlorine, and the pools are heated. So far she's worked on doggy paddle with flotation, floating on her back with teacher help, and jumping in the pool and getting back to the wall to climb out on her belly and elbows. My gosh I was proud...mostly that she listened to her teacher so well and didn't have any "I need mommy" freak outs. I realize this week could be a total 180 and it could go south fast...but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. She poo-pooed dance lessons but about ran out to our car when we suggested swimming.

Everyone have a good week!

Oh and here's a pic of my dinner from last night from my Blue Apron. I made three kinds of mushroom, roasted a poblano in the oven, wilted some kale and grated some monteray jack cheese...that's in the inside of the quesadilla. Then I topped with a salsa made of radishes, avocados and a lot of lime, salt and pepper. The cilantro only touched my husbands because it is my mortal enemy. It was quite filling and fresh tasting but I think I used a tad too much oil to fry them up.
I'm on board for radishes instead of tomatoes...was surprisingly good to have a crunch in with the mush.

 

[Ariel484]

I've gone back and read my own threads...it's interesting but it also involves a lot of me cringing at my past self for so many typos!!

I LOVE that medal, shirt and sunglasses. What great swag!!

As a former lifeguard...THANK YOU for putting your kiddo in swim school! Everyone should know how to swim!! *steps down off of soapbox*

 

[roxymama]

I've gone back and read my own threads...it's interesting but it also involves a lot of me cringing at my past self for so many typos!!

I LOVE that medal, shirt and sunglasses. What great swag!!

As a former lifeguard...THANK YOU for putting your kiddo in swim school! Everyone should know how to swim!! *steps down off of soapbox*

Oh yeah, I'm sure the typos are a plenty. I edit my posts sometimes like 5 times because I'll keep finding typos.

The swag for these big Chicago races tend to be pretty great, but expensive. Which is why I'm glad that back last Fall I signed up on some facebook "first X number of registrants get a crazy price" flash sale. I think I paid less than $30 bucks for all that and I'd have paid that for the nice Nike shirt alone. High five to past me.

RE the swimming...my kiddo is fearless and sometimes I worry about her going above her ability on playgrounds, around our furniture, at the beach etc etc. She has a mind of her own when she gets determined about trying something. At least I know if she decided to take a dare-devil dive into a pool before I can grab her that now she'll know how to roll to her back and water bug her way over to the wall and try to get out. Peace of mind and she just thinks she's getting to do fun stuff in a pool every week.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I can't believe it's really only 10 days until the 8K. How exciting? I just went back and looked and you messaged me 121 days ago to help you get to this point?!?! Seems like it was just yesterday. I'm excited! Have you started weather stalking yet?

Plus, this means it's almost time to start planning for the 10K in May and the fall 15K/10 miler!

 

[roxymama]

Has it really been that long? I guess it has when I count the weeks on my chart. My little taper (I think that's what it's called) is going to be here before I know it.
Weather right now is showing 42 high (so guessing in the 30's in the morning) with 10% change of rain. Not ideal but I guess I'd take that over 70 degrees. Chicago forecasts are notoriously suspect though. Today it is super sunny out and the forecast was for a snow storm of sorts.
This is a great reminder to me though about throwaway clothes. I have "clean out my closet" on my to do list for this week coming up (I'm in spring cleaning mode right now) but I think my piles will now be "keep", "donate", "garbage" and " for throwaway at races"
Wind shows 19mph which seems like typical Chicago. Let's hope it's mostly at my back.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Here is an article about running in the wind:

http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/running-in-windy-conditions/

My suggestion is pre-race try and figure out the direction the wind is mainly headed in. Then whenever you've got a headwind remember to tuck in behind someone (within 3 feet). Even if they're going slower than you that's ok because it will help you save energy for other portions of the race. They could be going as slow as 30 seconds per mile slower than your desired pace, but it will save you when you head the other direction. I used this strategy in my December half and ran a 51:25 into the wind during the first half (6.5 miles, or 7:55 min/mile) and a 47:33 second half (6.5 miles, or 7:19 min/mile) because I was able to save my energy heading into the wind.