Tag Archives: buzzfeed

Jan11

Race Plans, Boston Training, & Clean Eating

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…For Boston Training that is!

I began my 16-week training plan for the Boston Marathon on December 27th.  It was a tough first week, as while I had been doing the RunStreak through Runners Soul all December, I really did not have the mileage (or speed…or skill) that I had last year at this time.  I had been taking it really easy the last two-three months (as I needed to) so getting back at it has been tough.  Those “Easy Paced Runs” aren’t feeling very easy, but I’m managing to hit my pace goals for each day so far.  This Saturday was my most impressive day, as I did 9.12 miles in 80 minutes in the nasty cold (-4F when I went out to start).

When I compare the data I have from last year’s training cycle for Vancouver to what I have so far for Boston, it is slightly frustrating as I was A LOT faster 365 days ago.  But, I was on a stretch of a bunch of races, and hadn’t taken a moment to slow down.  I took the time to slow down and BREATHE this fall, and have been managing with my foot bone-spur issue.  Will I be able to get to Vancouver 2015 shape by Boston?  Who knows.  But I do know I am going to Boston in April and I am going to finish that damn race and be happy no matter what my time is!

A better indicator for how Boston will go, time wise, will be the races leading up to it.  Other than my under-trained 5 km in November, I haven’t had a longer distance race since Labour Day weekend.  I have updated my race schedule for 2016 here.  There are quite a few unknowns, as two races I normally do (10 Mile Road Race & Rattler Run 10km) don’t have their registration up year, so I am not certain of the weekends.  I am also toying with the idea of doing the Calgary 50 km again (My husband and mom are going to yell at me when they read that).  That would in a way probably be my ‘last hurrah!’ before my foot surgery.  Or, if they schedule my foot surgery later in June or July, I would try to register for the coveted local race, LadiesFest, which is an 8km.  It is later this year than usual, as I am normally at ASAA Provincial Track & Field.  I have not done that race before!  Lets be honest, as long as my surgery isn’t until later in June, I’ll probably register for both…Might as well mess my foot up more before they cut it open!

As an unrelated (sorta?) thing….Dan (my husband) and I decided to not learn from our craziness in June 2014 and we embarked on the Buzzfeed Clean Eating Challenge yet again.  I wrote about it twice on this blog, once at the beginning and at the end.  The beginning post from the last adventure is here.  Why the hell are we putting ourselves through this again?  Well, we did learn some great recipes the first time, we did lose some weight, and we actually had fun (in between our angry bouts due to lack of booze, sugar and salty snacks).  We also somehow convinced our friends Peter & Mac to join in on this, and they are doing it too.  We will all celebrate with pizzas and beer once the shenanigans are over.  The timing for these two weeks have been carefully planned, as we needed it to be two weeks where neither of us are too overloaded with work, as this requires a lot of cooking and time.  We did a weigh-in on Saturday and started the challenge Sunday.  Dan is documenting most of the cooking with pictures and videos on his phone, which yesterday consisted of me almost peeing myself laughing at the sheer size of the meals we were creating.  And the volume of dishes.  Lots and lots of dishes to wash…….

clean eat table

How will this diet alter my ability while training??  Not sure.  When we did it the last time, I had just finished training for and running in the Calgary full marathon.  That marathon was the first attempt I made at qualifying for Boston, and I fell way short, running a 3:46.  I was in really good shape at the start of the diet, and the diet did really clean out any ‘bad’ I had going on.  But it did wreck havoc with my system a bit.  I had one race during the diet in 2014, Millarville Half Marathon, and I certainly did not feel the best when I was done.  I have some straightforward training runs the next two weeks with some basic speed work, so I should be OK.  Pushing through the long workouts while not ‘carbing up’ will be interesting, but I think this diet tying in to me getting back at it with my Boston training couldn’t come at a better time.  I will keep everyone posted on how it turns out in the end!  Until then, time to keep on running…Boston is less than 100 days away!!!!!!!!!!

Jun9

Clean Eating Challenge

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See the picture below:

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That is our fridge yesterday, after returning from a shopping extravaganza at Safeway. What did we buy? Below is a link to the “Clean Eating Challenge” we have undertook. The grocery lists and recipes are located on the page also.

The Challenge

When I initially saw this post online, I admired the fact that it wasn’t some crazy “drink only water with lemon and cayenne pepper for three days” cleanse. I recognized it as a feasible challenge. I printed out the booklets, the shopping lists, the menus, and set a date to begin. I purposely planned on doing it starting this Sunday, June 8th…one week after my marathon. I figured that after all that hell i put my body through, then taking a week off to recoup, a healthy eating challenge would be good for my insides.

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After showing my husband it, he decided he would do it too. I am now so grateful he did, because two nights into it, we both realize how tough it would have been if one person was doing it and another wasn’t. The food prep is tedious, and having both of us working on it is a huge help. Tonight I just cooked a pile of chicken breasts for the rest of the week, pre-made our lunches and snacks, and Dan is washing a ton of pots. If we had tried to do this during a busy time of the school year, we would have quit by this morning.

I run a ton, and I am sure you are all aware of that by now. I consider myself to be in pretty stellar shape. Dan is in decent shape too—he landscapes all day long. We both usually eat relatively healthy—-cereal in the morning, coffee, a packed lunch of fruit, veggies, sandwich….some type of dinner….but where the problem lies for both of us are snacks and booze.

I tend to gravitate towards tortilla chips with my green salsa and sour cream. And i definitely eat way over the recommended amount. I also love, love, love Triscuits and cheese. Dan isn’t a salty snack person necessarily, but when he opens a bag of chips or pistachios, the bag is gone in a sitting. We also love our beer. (Do not fret—-I am not giving up beer for the rest of my life). But you know how when you’re at the doctor and they ask you the number of alcoholic beverages you consume in a week? And you lie? Yeah, that’s Dan and I.

Our initial thoughts so far are as follows (they are rambling and a run on paragraph, because that’s how my mind is at the moment):

Holy shit, the portion sizes are huge! Well…when the lunch is made up of kale, quinoa, and chickpeas for a salad I guess you can be allowed a ton. Can any normal person eat this much kale on a normal basis? Dan thinks he will lose 5 pounds, I will lose 3. I miss mass amounts of cheese. Dinner tomorrow night looks like a letdown. If we had kids we don’t know how we would have the time and energy to make all these random meals and clean up after them. I think I may be crabby come Wednesday. Damnit—this better make me feel good in the end!