I get it!

So after four months, I think I've finally mastered the "long slow run" concept. For the last two weeks, my long runs (7 and 8 miles, respectively) have been relaxed and totally fun. Once I stopped trying so hard, I think I was able to just naturally back off on my pace. The next step is to try to remember to look at my watch to verify that my pace is consistent. (I feel like it is, but I never remember to check mid-run.) I've also gotten back to working in faster segments on shorter runs and finally got my 10-minute mile back consistently. (I had temporarily misplaced it in the move/achilles annoyance/school starting again chaos.) I found my running groove again, and it feels great. :)

There's a 5k walk/fun run through Greenfield Village for Henry Ford staff after work on Tuesday, and I'm going to do it since I don't have class on Tuesdays. It sounds like fun, and I'm hoping to meet some other runners who can give me tips on good routes around here.

In culinary news, I pulled off a couple of stellar Cooking Light gems last week. They were both pretty time-consuming, but worth the effort.

• Curried chicken penne with fresh mango chutney--I was so happy this one turned out because I had to buy a couple of obscure ingredients and I despise dealing with mangoes. (I like the way they taste, but I very rarely find the effort worth it.) This one will definitely make it into regular rotation.
• Pear crumble with dried cherries and almond streusel--My brother was in town last weekend, so I made this when I took my grandma to my parents' house for dinner because pears are great this time of year and my mom and I have a thing for dried cherries. Everyone liked it, and I actually ended up cutting it into 15 pieces instead of 10 (and they were still plenty big).

I also devised a recipe for whole-grain pumpkin cranberry bars that I've been eating in place of store-bought granola bars. There's a booth at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market that sells these amazing fresh, stone-ground whole-grain flours (the one I have is a wheat, spelt, and buckwheat blend), so I came up with this:

• 1 1/2 c. canned pumpkin
• 1 1/2 c. whole-grain flour
• 1/3 c. buttermilk
• 1/4 c. egg beaters
  
• 1/2 c. ground flaxseed
• 2 T molasses
• 3 T brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/3 c. craisins
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• You just beat all the moist ingredients (add the flax here) and fold in the dry ones until they're just moistened/mixed in, and bake it at 350 until it passes the toothpick test. It made 12 bars and according to the online calculator I used, they worked out to be 120 cal/2 g fat/4 g fiber.
  

Sorry, no photo documentation. My camera, memory card, or computer (or possibly all three) is still being a brat.

Gobble, gobble!

That's the noise turkeys make, right?

I've found a suitable baby step on my way to half-marthonhood. A running store in Ann Arbor is sponsoring a Turkey Trot race in Dexter in November, and one of the events is the Iron Turkey Classic--it's a 5k followed by a 10k. Since I'm already able to do 7 miles at a time, I can reasonably build up to 10 miles by adding a mile every other week until the event. I think it will be good.

This week's cook-ahead meal is black bean and quinoa chili. No picture this time because for some reason, I can't get the camera to cough it up. Grrr. Anyway, because I can't seem to leave recipes as they're written, I ended up using three cans of beans--one kidney, one black, and one pinto--adding lime juice, and adding a little cayenne pepper. This is another keeper, but I'm not going to need to make it again for a long time because it made a *ton.*

Pain in the butt. ;-)

Today was the first day of my new spinning class and because it's been six weeks since I've done it, I kind of forgot about the need for padded shorts. Owww.

The class rocked and I really like the instructor, though, so I'm happy about that. I knew it would be a keeper when "Fat Bottomed Girls" came up on the playlist.

Running in the rain and fun with legumes...

It was pouring outside when i wanted to run at 7:00 this morning, and I was not pleased. The Y doesn't reopen until tomorrow, so my options were as follows:

• Go to the gym on campus when it opens at 10. (I didn't want to wait that long, nor did I want to drive 20 minutes there and back.)
• Wait out the rain. (I did this until 8:30, but started to lose my motivation to go at all.)
• Bail entirely. (Not an option, since I took Saturday off entirely.)
• Get wet.

So I went in the rain. I put the ipod in its regular holder and then a ziplock bag, and then tucked it between my sports bra and the shelf in my tank top. (Yep, I'm classy!) I wore old shoes, bit the bullet, and headed out. I made it all the way through the seven miles I wanted to do, and it didn't actually become completely miserable until about the last mile and a half when my shoes were making "splorsh" noises with every step and it was raining off the brim of my hat.

In other fitness-related news, spinning starts on Tuesday. Yay!

My latest culinary adventures have involved meatless one-pan cooking. Meatless just for variety and one-pan for ease of cooking ahead and toting to work/school.

Last week's dish was homestyle lentils with barley. I modified a recipe from the WW Ultimate Flex and Core Cookbook. (I added mushrooms and used barley instead of the pasta it called for because I already had some cooked barley in the fridge). It was my first time trying my hand at lentils, and I was happy with it. I'll definitely make it again. Photo documentation:


This week, I'll be toting around chickpea curry with yogurt from a Cooking Light recipe. I had to take some liberties with the spices because I couldn't find cardamom seeds or cumin seeds. I used ground instead, but I think I used too much. This stuff has some serious kick. I liked the bite I tasted today, but it remains to be seen whether I can get through a whole serving. ;-) I added couscous and spinach, and used fat-free Greek yogurt (I just discovered this a couple of weeks ago, and it's gooood--super creamy!) instead of full-fat regular:



I've also discovered the world's perfect breakfast. I cook the following in a crockpot on Sunday, and reheat it in the microwave when I'm putting on my makeup in the morning:

--1 cup steel-cut oats
--2 eggs, beaten
--1/2 cup egg beaters
--4 cups skim milk
--1 tablespoon sugar-like substance (I used honey last week and maple syrup this week.)
--2 oz almonds
--1/4 cup dried fruit (Last week was golden raisins, this week is craisins.)
--cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg to taste

Funny story and funny link.

I keep forgetting to post about my little masters swimming adventure on Wednesday.

The pool at the Y opens at 5:30 during the week, but I had been rolling up at 6:30 because it's usually pretty crowded right when it opens. I had to be at work at 8:30 on Wednesday, so I got there right at 5:30. I was the first one there, so I hopped into the first lane and went about my business. (I should point out here that there's only one lane divider rope that just sort of divides the pool in half, and people just use the lines on the bottom to stay in their "lanes." Good thing I finally picked that skill up!) So anyway, I'm in the first lane and about 15 minutes into my swim, another woman (whose name I eventually found out was Sue) got in the "lane" next to me and asked if I wanted to swim circles or back and forth. I said I'd rather do back and forth because I wasn't used to doing circles with other people, and she said that was fine. Ten minutes after that, two guys got in (so now there are four of us in the space of three "lanes") and sort of insisted that we do circles because one of them wanted to do backstroke. I offered to just get in a lane on the other side of the lone rope, and Sue said "no, I've seen you here before--you'll be fine with us!" At this point, I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I ended up swimming with them. Anyway, long story a tiny bit shorter, they were a masters swimming group that meets there every morning. If I had known, I would have picked a different lane to begin with, but it ended up being okay. They definitely made me kick my butt into gear, though, and Sue said I should join them for real. (Apparently, she joined the group by randomly ending up in their lane one morning too.)

This morning, the same lifeguard who was there on Wednesday was on duty and asked me how I liked swimming with the masters. I told her that I felt kind of bad about crashing their lane, but I didn't realize they had a standing thing going on. She said "oh, don't worry about it--they said you should start joining them!" The pool's closed for the next two weeks (grrr!), but I might consider it if going only once or twice a week is allowed. (Heh, and I'm pretty sure they don't know that I only know one stroke. :-p)

On another note entirely, here's a link to a great blog I found the other day: www.crankyfitness.com. Hilarious.

Change in plans.

I'm 99.9% sure that I'm going to opt out of the half marathon, and here's why:

• The whole tendinitis thing is an overuse injury. I'd rather be able to run consistently and run well than force myself to do this and make it worse.
• I don't think it's reasonable to go from a 7-mile long run (and I haven't even done that since before I moved) to 13.1 in a month. I think it would have been doable without the three-week break in the middle.

Rest assured, though, that I have a new plan of action:

• I'm going to sign up for the Oakwood Red October Run 10k on October 4. I know I can cover that distance, and it will give me something to aim for since I've never run an official 10k before.
  
• I'm going to do six miles this Sunday and keep my Sunday runs to that length for awhile, and build my two weekday runs up (or back up) to five miles each. (Slowly--adding a mile per week will keep me in line with the 10% rule. Once I get there, I'll work on adding miles to the Sunday run and maybe adding an extra short run during the week.
  
• I'm going to check into seeing a trainer to get a strength training routine.
• I'm going to be diligent about stretching.
• After I've built up a good, strong base (see bullet #2), I'll start a half-marathon training plan at the end of next April for a race at the end of next August.
  

Impressive!

Was anyone else able to catch the Olympic triathlon TV coverage? I'm watching it right now, and I'm amazed at these gals' ability to swim a straight line in the open water. (And damn, are they fast!)

The commentator is talking 10-12 seconds for the swim/bike transition. Wow.

Watching distance running, however, is kind of a snore. I tried to watch the women's marathon last night and the men's 10k earlier today, and couldn't get through more than ten minutes of either.