Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon Week 12

This was supposed to be a step-back week but I got hurt on Monday, didn't work out Tuesday or Wednesday, and had my relay this weekend, so the training got a little messed up.

Monday 8-4-14: RUN 6 miles in 1:08:xx (11:20 pace).  A really awful run and then my hass flared. up.

Tuesday 8-5-14: NADA

Wednesday 8-6-14: NADA

Thursday 8-7-14: STRENGTH just a 20 min arms and abs tabata session.

Friday 8-8-14: RUN (relay leg 1) 6.34 miles in 1:07:xx (10:32 pace)

Saturday 8-9-14: RUN (relay leg 2) 7.05 miles in 1:18 (11:05 pace).  RUN (relay leg 3) 4.3 miles in 44 min (10:15 pace)

Sunday 8-10-14: WALK about 4.5 miles

Now I'm ready to get back at regular marathon training.  Sadly, I had kind of a crappy run Monday morning and then a bunch of dental work Monday afternoon.  Hopefully I'm not too derailed.

Race Recap: #runthefred 2014 Fred Meijer White Pine Trail 200 Mile Relay

For the second year in a row, I had the privilege of  living in a van for 36 hours and running the beautiful White Pine Trail from Comstock Park to Cadillac and back with 11 of my closest friends (well, only 5 of them were also in the same van as me).  Team Screaming Thunderboxes made their debut this year.

Leena, me, Leon, Andi, Jenn, Susan, Bill, Chris, Glenn, Eric, Mike, Jen

We started bright and early Friday morning - 6:30 am to be exact - which meant I was up at 4 am.  After getting a group photo, we tagged as many other runners as we could with Screaming Guy tattoos.  Those tattoos, the incredible shirt design by Jenn's son Mac, and our awesome sign helped us win a "best dressed" award.  We were going for the social media award - HELLO! We have our own twitter @screamingtboxes - but I guess they couldn't give us both :)

That might be me behind Leon's arm getting a Fred tat :)

I was in Van 2 and was runner number 12, so this meant a lot of sitting, getting out and cheering, more sitting, some trying to rest, and some eating before I ran my first leg at 4:30 pm on Friday.

This is the surface of the sun, not to be confused with Paris, MI.
6.34 miles in 1:06:49 (10:32 pace)

I was worried about my hass acting up, but luckily, it really didn't give me any problems.  My ankle is still cranky but I'm having it worked on again tomorrow.  After Van 2 finished, we headed up to Cadillac to get some rest before we needed to take over again around midnight.  This year, my van was Van 1 so I had the luxury of sleeping and riding in a 9 passenger van.  I highly recommend this over the minivan.

Leg 2 started for me at 5 am.  I had an out and back section and decided to run it alone (ie - no one biked with me).  It was peaceful but long.  At least there were lots of other runners to say hi to on the course.

Safety first!  7.05 miles in 1:18:10 (11:05 pace).

When I finished, we were able to get some breakfast and head back out to cheer for Van 1 on their last legs.  We then camped out in Pierson until it was time for us to take over again.  The final 12 legs of the relay go pretty quickly, with all the distances under about 5 miles.

I was so pumped to be the last runner and bring it home!

The Screaming Thunderboxes had the tag line, We Run Full Throttle, and that's how I wanted to run the last leg.  I didn't quite make my pace goal, but I came pretty damn close and managed to have 4 kills in that last leg! Pretty good for starting at 3:40 in the afternoon and running in full sun.  Last year, I was runner number 1 and I got to cross the starting line.  This year I was going to get to take us across the finish. Closing out the relay was such an awesome experience.

I took off Full Throttle - with numbers in the low 9s for the first 1/2 mile until I reigned it in.
4.3 miles in 44:06 (10:15 pace).

The Screaming Thunderboxes crossed the finish line together after 36 hours and 32 minutes (a 10:47 overall pace).  

I absolutely LOVE this race.  It's funny, this is only one of 2 races I've repeated, and I plan on getting many more of these medals to hang on my wall.

My screaming guy might be a little worse for wear, but I'm feeling good and ready to get back into marathon training.  In fact, I ran already this morning!

Have you ever run a relay?  If not, would you?

Happy Birthday!!

17 years ago, these two made me a mom.

I couldn't be more proud of my intelligent, talented, kind-hearted, funny, beautiful kids.

Happy 17th birthday, Kaylee and David!

Three Things Thursday: Up Schitt Creek

I have a confession to make.  I often write my Training Tuesday posts on Sunday night and schedule them for Tuesday.  Since they reflect the previous Monday through Sunday, I figure, what's the big deal?  

Well, sometimes things happen on Monday that throw everything off.  This Monday was one of those days. I went out for my scheduled 6 mile easy run and 1.5 in I knew something wasn't right with my ass.  (I know, my ass is both a hot mess and hot, so work with me here people.)  Instead of doing the smart thing and turning around to walk home, I kept running.  I finished my 6 miles and now I'm here....

source

Wouldn't you know it, I also forgot to bring my paddles.  My ass is seriously fraked up and so is my opposite ankle.  The chiro I saw yesterday thinks they are related.  My ankle has been bugging me literally for over a year but I just deal with it.  It gets locked up and tight but usually a mile into my runs, it's fine.  Monday it wasn't fine and I think I changed my gait enough to deal with it that it made the issue with my hass flair back up.  So now....

I've been resting, rolling, icing, heating and stretching.  I didn't lift Tuesday and I didn't run on Wednesday.  I probably won't lift today either.  You see, I have this little 200 mile relay to start running tomorrow and there's no way in hell I'm letting my team down.  I just hope I can suck it up and complete my 18 miles.

At the very least, I'll be colorful as I tread water down Schitt Creek.  Just pray I don't hear banjos.

WIAW: Gluten Free Pancakes!

One of the hardest things for me since going paleo-ish is the lack of variety at breakfast.  I've never been a huge fan of pancakes but on the weekends, my son always makes them for him and his sister. (I know, right?!?!)  

My friend, Susan, tagged me in a FB post the other day with a recipe for mug cake that used Gluten Free Bisquick.  I never even knew they made the stuff, but lo and behold, our Meijer carries it!  (For the record - the mug cake was really good too.)

I decided yesterday that I wanted blueberry pancakes.  July in Michigan means we have blueberries coming out the wazoo, so yes, blueberry pancakes it had to be.  Since the recipe on the box makes 10, I cut it in half in case they were really gross.  I didn't want to waste a ton of this kind of expensive mix.  Also, the recipe called for vegetable oil, which I no longer use since doing the paleo-ish thing, so I subbed melted coconut oil and I subbed almond milk for regular.

Blueberry Gluten Free Pancakes made paleo-ish

1/2 cup Bisquick Gluten Free mix (it looks totally different than regular Bisquick so don't freak out)

1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

1 Tbsp melted coconut oil

1 egg white

a little bit of water to thin the batter - mine was super thick I think because of my substitutions

As many blueberries as you can fit in the batter :)

As you can see, the batter doesn't look like regular pancake batter.  I think because I didn't have egg yolk and because this is rice flour was why the color is so white.  It thickened up a ton so I added a little water to thin it down.

Use a 1/4 measuring cup to ladle batter onto a hot griddle.  

Cook like regular pancakes.  I think they maybe took a bit longer - they are VERY fluffy - and watch that they don't stick.

This made 6 probably 2-3" diameter pancakes that MFP calculated the calories at about 55 per pancake.  Not too shabby at all!  I ate 3 yesterday and threw the other 3 in the freezer. This morning, I nuked them for about 90 seconds and they were amazing.  I'm not a huge fan of pancake syrup, so I had mine with raspberry jam.

This entire breakfast was about 340 calories.  

There's a recipe on the box for GF pizza crust. I can't wait to give it a try.  I haven't made pizza at home since going paleo-ish because we have some great restaurants that do GF pizza very well.  It would just be nice to have a pizza that's less than $20.

What did you eat for breakfast today? 

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon Week 11

Wow - where does the time go?  Here it is already August and I'm about half way through my training for the Detroit Marathon.  I'd say, overall, the training is going well.  The biggest thing I'm noticing is that I seem to be recovering from long runs much quicker this time around.  Maybe it's the intervals or maybe it's just that I'm in better running shape.  Probably doesn't really matter at this point. I was mildly bummed to finish out July about 3 miles short of 100 miles, but since I knew I had a 16 mile training run on August 1st, I resisted going out on July 31st just for the purpose of hitting that number.  Pretty mature of me, don't you think?

Monday 7/28/14 - RUN 2 miles at a 10:17 pace on the indoor track.  LIFTING 80 minutes.

Tuesday 7/29/14 - REST (actually, lots of walking in Chicago)

Wednesday 7/30/14 - RUN 6 miles with 4 at tempo. Averaged a 10:03 pace overall and a 9:48 for the tempo miles.  Not too shabby.

Thursday 7/31/14 - LIFTING 90 minutes.  Went horribly.

Friday 8/1/14 - LONG RUN - since I had plans all weekend, I moved my 16 miler to Friday morning.  I had a very rocky start but finished strong for a negative split and 11:20 overall average pace.  Somehow I even managed a 10 m/m for mile 16.  I'm pretty sure it's the horse to the barn phenomenon.

Saturday 8/2/14 - REST

Sunday 8/3/14 - WALK 5 miles.  I didn't need to head back out of town as early as I expected, so I got in a nice 90 minute walk.

This coming weekend is my 2nd 200 mile relay.  Team Screaming Thunderboxes will be running full throttle up and down the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail 200 Mile Relay.  We have a twitter account and you can follow us here to watch all the craziness unfold!

Meal Monday: Mug Quiche

One of my friends suggested this to me and while it's not totally paleo it probably could be with some tweaks. The best part? It's quick for a breakfast on the go.

Mug Quiche

This was a huge mug so there's
a lot more in there than appears.

First you need a coffee cup.

Break one egg into the cup and add a couple tbsp of milk. Scramble.

Add a slice of bread ripped up (I used half a gluten free hamburger bun).

Add any veggies or cooked meat you'd like. Mine had mushrooms, green pepper, jalapeño, and a slice of cooked bacon. You could also add cheese if you wanted.

Stir it all together. Nuke on high for 90 seconds.


Voila! Quiche in a cup!  This was a nice change of pace from my usual scrambled or over easy eggs.

What would you put in your quiche?