I’m 2 months into training for my 2nd marathon – Whoooo – but I’m remembering all the things I forgot about the first time I trained. Certainly many things are different since my first marathon was actually the first race … Continue reading
Back in the spring one of my BFF’s Caitlin and I decided to take a trip to Puerto Rico in the fall. I saved a portion of cash from all my gigs last spring in a piggy bank to save up for the plane tickets (so it wouldn’t get mixed in with my Europe savings) and bought my ticket in August!
We only had 2.5 days together as Caitlin left early Sunday morning and my flight was late that afternoon, but we had an amazing time! We stayed in two different hotels in Candado in San Juan and really enjoyed that part of the city. We had beach access and were in walking distance of most things that we wants to do in the city!
On Thursday we checked into our hotel, showered, changed and went out to explore/eat. We walked from Candado to Old San Juan, which was a bit of a hike, and settled on the cheapest Puerto Rican restaurant we could find. The main meal was probably the worst of the trip but we were starving and the appetizer was really delicious. The first hotel was a little place, nothing special but a good price. After dinner we stopped at an Italian place for drinks, we loved it so much we went there the rest of the trip for after dinner drinks!
On Friday, after I went for a brutally hot run, we packed up and rented a car and drove out to El Yunque National Park for hiking, swimming in the waterfalls, and exploring the rainforest. It was about an hours drive and absolutely worth it!!! The views were gorgeous and we wish we could have spent more time there.
We drove home, showered and headed out for dinner closer to our hotel, we decided on a Latin restaurant. Our mojitos came and they were very weird and our least favorite drinks of the trip so we were very nervous we had made a terrible mistake. But the mofongo was AMAZING. It was absolutely delicious and we were relieved.
On Saturday we went to Old San Juan to shop around but lost of stores weren’t really open yet, which was disappointing. We had delicious mallorca sandwiches for breakfast and packed up at our hotel, and walked down the street to the La Concha resort. My dad had gotten us a night there with his Marriott points and it was an amazing hotel. I HIGHLY recommend it!
We sat out on the beach Saturday afternoon and then walked down to the lagoon and went stand up paddleboarding which was sooo much fun!
We had dinner at a fabulous Cuban restaurant and finished the night off with dessert and drinks at our favorite Italian place (di Parma’s).
Sunday morning Caitlin left and I ran on the treadmill and lifted some weights in the gym before an awesome breakfast and a last few hours on the beach.
It was fabulous and I already miss it!
Mileage – yoga, rest day
QOD – Relax.
Yesterday was the final performance of Baylor’s production of Into The Woods! I was playing in the pit, which made for a crazy two weeks since we had only 1 night off in the almost two week run (we had tech rehearsals the first few nights of week 1). It is an amazing show though and I had a blast playing Sondheim’s music! I’m pretty excited for the movie coming out in December! Anyone else?! Official Trailer in case you haven’t seen it!
This semester is probably the most brutal of my entire college career and as much as I’ve wanted to post, my writing time is devoted to applications and my thesis. I’ve still been cooking, running, and working out but rather than posting 3-4 times a week I’m making a goal to post just 1x a week.
Hopefully as things settle down and drop off my to-do list I can return to my blog! Even as I’m writing this I’m sitting in the Baylor Theatre pit on a break before a tech rehearsal for Into the Woods.
Tech time – talk to you guys sooner rather than later hopefully!
Mileage – 6 miles
QOD – Into the woods….
This week’s meals have been really simple and I actually made only 1 meal for dinner! But I’m here today to share my breakfasts and lunch for the week!
Now that I have eaten all of my smoothies I had to find a new breakfast that is much more grab and go. This week and next week’s breakfast are getting me in the mood for fall – Pumpkin Oat’n’Honey Muffins! I of course added raisins but I whipped it up a notch with chocolate covered raisins!
My lunch for the week is still a soup but this was not from Weight Watchers, it’s a Pintrest recipe that grabbed my attention –Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup.
My workout on Wednesday’s is riding the bike at the gym and upper body strength training. Tuesdays are a longer run day and Thursdays are time and tempo dominated rather than exact mileage so I like the chance to be in the gym on Wednesdays and Sundays! It also gives me the opportunity to study and read my materials for my thesis WHILE working out!
Mileage – Bike, upper body strength training
QOD – “Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.”
And so it begins. Training for Marathon #2. I’m finally physically and mentally ready to go 26.2 again. Plus I really need to get started on the fulls if I want to run 10 half and 5 full marathons before my 30th birthday! I love half marathons so much I’ll probably be closer to 12 or 15. But the full…that’s a totally different story.
Why now? I think now is a great time, even though I’m incredibly busy – just like when I trained for my first one. Training while I’m busy ensures that I will actually workout and make time for myself, which means I won’t go insane. Running and working out makes a huge impact on my mental health. I also have another idea about this race, but that will be kept under wraps until all the details are complete.
I’m trying a new method of training for this race with only 3 days of running longer distances, with 2 days of cross training (one of them being long and intense), and 2 days of rest where I’ll be incorporating yoga. I’m hoping the increased cross training and space between runs will help prevent injuries. I’m also hoping it will curb my hunger pangs because I will be running less time.
School has been insane, but hopefully the marathon will keep me inspired to post more frequently!
Mileage – 5 miles
QOD – You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!! I have to say I love starting the school year with my first weekend being a 3 day weekend – helps me to ease myself back into school.
Also allows some more time for cooking!
This week’s dinner recipes are:
One Pouch Feast with peppers, sausage, and potatoes!
Eggplant Pizza – top it however you like it!!
I’m also mixing things up this week and having hard boiled eggs rather than baked eggs this week – woah big changes guys!
Here are some fun foodie motivational posters:
Upcoming post on my marathon training!!
Mileage – Crosstraining
QOD – There’s a friendly tie of some sort between music and eating.
The past 4 days I’ve been working like crazy for my assistantship (auditions and making orchestra folders) and at my new part time job (bookstore so we’ve got textbook mania going on right now). BUT I’m hoping as I settle into a schedule I can make my blogging more consistent.
I’ve been chipping away at my runs – most sitting in the 3-4 mile range as I readjust to 80 degree heat even at 6am and making sure my legs are healthy and ready for marathon training. Mileage buildup for pre-training prep starts again this week!
I’ve also been cranking out new recipes and I have two awesome ones to share.
First is a collection of smoothie recipes and tips on freezing them! I made 3 weeks worth – and while I LOVE the recipes and the concept – I don’t have quite the time once I get into the semester to blend one up every morning and make sure the blender is clean for the next day (you have to dry it fast or the fruit cakes on, even while soaking). I’ve been eating them with my muffin tin eggs but I may go back to something I can have fully cooked on Sunday and just grab and go every morning once I run out of all my smoothies. I love the smoothies because I control all the ingredients in them – I even eliminated the apple juice and water as my liquids and have just been using fresh pressed orange juice for all of them.
The second is one of my dinners for this week and I am possibly now obsessed with this dish. Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad! My only changes were that I used a microwave steam bag of broccoli since I had it on had and I used just bottled buffalo sauce because it’s a personal favorite – I also may have added extra cabbage and carrots. I love all the veggies mixed into the salad, the protein, and I get all the taste of buffalo wings (a personal favorite) without the frying and creamy bleu cheese dressing! Plus it made enough for 5 meals for me easily. It also cooked up quick – I had everything ready to go in 30 minutes.
Not the prettiest but dang delicious
Time to get back to practicing!
Mileage – 3.3 miles, Nike+ Training “Sculpted Arms” workout
QOD – Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
My achilles were a little cranky after yesterday’s run and I ended up not being able to squeeze in the yoga I thought I would so I decided to make today a cross training day. Since the gym on campus isn’t open yet I busted out a new at home workout I found on Pintrest recently.
The workout was this great 12 minute workout from Kama Fitness!
I definitely got sweaty and I love workouts that hit my whole body. I finished 7 rounds just as the timer went off so I’m thinking about adding this in once a week to see if I can improve on that!
I followed that up with my favorite yoga for runner’s YouTube video to help out my legs.
If you want to check out my Pintrest Fitness board I’ve posted a ton of at-home body weight workouts that I like using on my off days when I can’t get to a gym.
Time to whip up lunches for the week and get some work done for school before a practice session!
Mileage – Full Body Fat Blaster Workout, Yoga for Runner’s
QOD – “When working out, length is not a substitute for intensity.”
HOWDY from Texas y’all! I’m back at school and no I don’t talk that way – but I do say y’all…
Today I am bringing you a new recipe from Swiss Paleo for Sweet Potato Chicken Casserole.
I have recently fallen in love with sweet potatoes and when I saw this recipe I couldn’t resist. I figured I would whip it up before I get into the craziness of classes since it does take a little bit of time. I made a few changes to the listed recipe since I wanted to make 3 servings to eat later this week so I added at 3rd sweet potato and I used a whole bag of baby spinach. I didn’t salt during the cooking process since feta is such a salty cheese but I did put a dash of salt on before I ate it.
Overall, I loved the dish (good thing because it’s Wednesday and Friday’s dinner too haha!) and would definitely make it again – possibly on a larger scale!
Today I went on my first run back in Texas and I managed to get out before the clouds disappeared so it wasn’t as hot as it ended up being later today. I definitely need to get outside about 2 hours earlier I did today and drink a lot of water tonight to get my body ready.
Time to prep tomorrow’s meal – it marinates over night – and finish unpacking my clothes!
Mileage – 3.1 miles, yoga for runners
QOD – You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.
racingbassist 