Confessions of a Hypochondriac

Good Morning, and Happy Friday!

I'm back at my favorite Friday spot - Panera. It's been awhile, but I think they remember me. During my 10 seconds standing in line I considered getting a pumpkin muffin, but decided to save the indulgences for the cruise starting next weekend.

Speaking of pumpkin, I have something a bit odd to share. I saw the idea on Carrots 'n' Cake first, so I can't take the credit. Yet I added a twist on her recipe, and came up with this...

Pumpkin, 1 mashed up banana, some chopped up figs, almond butter, and a dash of both honey and cinnamon. Once warmed up in the microwave, I almost felt like I was eating dessert or maybe a form of baby food?

Either way, it was a quick, easy and delicious breakfast.

Recently I've kind of been putting off the topic of running because I'm not really positive what's going on with my body (surprise, surprise). I do know that I've been having several runs like this:

This was Monday, followed by another 8 miles last night at a 7:30 pace. Cardio-wise, I feel great. And then there's my feet.

About two weeks ago on a 12-miler I got that feeling in my right foot that made me instantly want to throw myself over the side of the bridge I was running over. That stress fracture kind of feeling.

Now, I'm very torn. I've obviously still been running the past two weeks since feeling that all too familiar feeling. It's odd because some runs I feel it, some runs I don't. Most runs I feel great cardio-wise, and tell myself that I simply must be insane.

Even my mom, one of the more cautious people that I know, asked me when I was home,

"Are you sure you aren't just making it up in your head? You are a hypochondriac after all..."

That's a statement that I can't argue. The past year, outside of the real injuries that I've actually had, I've been convinced that I had a torn hamstring, a torn achilles, a torn meniscus, a torn hip flexor, low iron, ulcers, pink eye, a broken toe, depression, gluten intolerance, and dairy intolerance. 

I didn't have any of those things. Can we all take a moment and give my boyfriend an appreciative head nod? Because who do you think I ran to (oftentimes in tears) every single time I self-diagnosed myself? Him.

Felt like I should insert some comedic relief 

Anyways, back to the running a marathon with a possible stress fracture topic. Part of me wants to do it. And I definitely don't want to defer until I know 100% that I can't do it. It may even be too late to defer, I'm too afraid to check the website.

My plan? To set out for 15-18 (close to home) miles tomorrow morning, and listen to my body. See at what point things start hurting, what kind of pain it is, etc. This weekend was suppose to be 22, and then taper. Best case, I hit 20 tomorrow and declare 'It's on' and let the taper begin.

And if it hurts? And that all too familiar stress fracture feeling is screaming at me and I come to the realization that 26 miles on a semi-broken foot is a poor idea? Well, it's not the end of the world. But we can talk more on Sunday once I've figured this stupid foot out.

I'm glad this is out in the open now, I feel like I've been hiding a heavy dark secret for the past two weeks. 

Good luck to my runners this weekend. My roommate is running her first (DC) Ragnar Relay, and I hope she has an absolute blast. I'm off to start my Friday, I even wore a skirt today so I'm feeling extra productive.

I would love feedback from runners on the stress fracture thing. I wouldn't love long-winded lectures on 'being smart'... believe me, I'm not stupid. I've played through torn ligaments and given myself vertebral fractures, the whole nine yards. I'm no stranger to pain and what I should and shouldn't push through, I promise.

Cheers!

K

Eggcited

What a horrific title. I'll try harder next time.

I'm not sure if this is possible, but I may actually love fall here in Baltimore more than I loved summer. Favorite things so far have included:

Open windows

My pumpkin candle

 Chilly long runs on beautiful flat trails

not the best quality, but there was no time to stop for pictures.

Throwing on a hoody after 18 miles…

Speaking of 18 miles, they went well! I knocked them out early Saturday morning when temperatures were barely hovering above 50 degrees, and I could actually see my breath. It was marvelous, held an 8:18 pace. Saturday night entailed this:

Sunday I woke up overly excited about life. So naturally I started cooking egg muffins, and they actually turned out awesome. Want the recipe?

 Thought so.

Spicy Paleo Egg Muffins

Ingredients:

-6 eggs

-1 Cup of spinach

-3/4 cup ground turkey (or bacon)

-Salt & Pepper

-3-4 TB hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the ground turkey with the spinach.

Whisk eggs in large bowl with salt, pepper and hot sauce; add meat and veggies and stir well.

Pour into muffin pans (I use liners so that they don’t stick) and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

I’m a big fan; they are quick and easy snacks for on-the-go. Not to mention full of protein.

Following my muffin excitement, later in the day I departed on what was supposed to be a shakeout run. I once again got way too excited about the new shoes I had purchased the evening prior, and decided to push myself for six miles…

Sidenote- when running along the harbor, anytime the surface turns into a wooden dock I instantly become fearful of stepping on a rotten board and falling through, forcing me to run faster.

Another sidenote – Is this not one of the best-coordinated running outfits that you have ever seen? I mean come on, check out that color scheme…

I should have more to report on my switch into Newtons later this week, once I’ve broken them in a bit more. Until then, I leave you with this song:

Obsessed.

Busy week for me, in and out of training and then jetting home to Chi-town on Friday. Keep it real my friends.

Cheers -
K 

Pushing 20

Well, if I’m not mistaken I owe you all a little bit of literature.

This was a very solid weekend, for really no reason at all. Perhaps due to excessive productivity? I found myself in a rare crafty state yesterday, and made this:

Two months after moving into our Baltimore house, I’m finally putting some finishing touches on my room. My jewelry (and race medals) have literally been sitting in a tangled mess all summer, and so yesterday I decided to do something about it. It’s amazing what $12 at Michael's will do for you.

I’m also happy to announce that I came out of this weekend with both legs intact. I wasn’t sure how my body would respond to an (almost) 20 mile weekend. Saturday morning was a beautiful cool morning in Baltimore, and I did 8 out and back along the harbor, followed by 5.1 around a nearby park…

Can you tell that the park was hilly? Time to start hitting those hill workouts a little harder.

On Sunday I was worried I would be too tight to do 6 miles at race pace, but I felt good by mid-afternoon, and flew through them (a little too fast) at a 7:33 pace.

Successful running weekend, not only because my body parts held it together, but I was also feeling good energy-wise. My race pace run last week was the definition of horrific; I had almost no energy, was over-heated, etc. I felt 500 times better the second week of the sugar cleanse, and I’m going to take a gander and say this is largely due to me finally finding my stride on the cooking front. 

Eats the past week have included:

Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

(I didn't include bacon, and it was still SO good)

Paleo Apple Banana Bites

I have continued to see positive body changes, and in general feel really good. I hate sounding like an advertisement on here, but my energy levels are up, my mood has improved and in general this style of eating (very Paleo-like) seems to agree with my body.

This is the final week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox, and my plan is to allow even less dairy, and no cheats. (The first two weeks I allowed one ‘cheat’ per week, for my own psychological well-being.)

I don't feel bad about that.

Does anyone know if the period goes inside or outside of the parenthesis? This is driving me insane, I can’t figure it out.

Last but certainly not least, congrats to my friend and coworker, Amy, who completed her first Irongirl Triathlon this past weekend. I had the chance to swing by and see her finish – it was an awesome event to spectate, and I’m super proud of her!

Cheers to a marvelous Monday!

Bad Samples, Good Weekend

I had every intention of writing a new post yesterday. And then laziness set in... and I sat. And watched football. And ate. And stretched. And watched more football.

I wore this ensemble all day long, including errand-running. 

 Overall, solid weekend. Uneventful, not exceptionally productive but solid.

I made a trip to a local apple orchard with my roommate, where I managed to get a variety of things that made me unreasonably excited. For example:

Which I slathered onto a slice of pumpkin bread this morning. DOUBLE PUMPKIN GREATNESS.

I also got three mini pumpkins, one which I gave to Andrew, and two which now sit in my room.

Let’s see, what else…

I knocked out 20 miles on Sunday, which actually went pretty well. It was a cool morning, and an old man complimented me on my ‘cool green socks’. Believe me, at mile 16 I’ll take any compliment I can get. 

post-run

Since the Philly Half my coach Amanda has lowered my long-run pace to the 8:20-8:30 range, so like an obedient student I managed to hold a steady 8:24 pace… in contrast to my 8:40’s the past couple few weeks. By the time I got home from the run it was already 11:30, and time to go to Costco.

Yes.

Cliff note: typically I’m able to literally feed myself lunch from Costco samples alone. Sadly, yesterday the sample people really let me down, and Andrew and I left having to immediately tear into the massive bag of veggie straws that he bought. Bad samples literally have the ability to ruin my day. Thank goodness for veggie straws.

I also bought this:

That, my friends, is 10 lbs of oatmeal. Which will hopefully get me through the winter. Maybe?

And here we are, Monday afternoon.  My left hip is strangely sore, which of course calls for some foam rolling tonight... maybe even the hot tub?

With New York only 6 weeks out, I plan to be overly proactive with injury prevention. This means foam rolling, foot stretching, heating/icing, etc. Yet Just to be clear, it DOES NOT mean omitting froyo from my diet. Not possible.

Last but certainly not least, congrats to a dear friend of mine, Miss Hode, for a massive marathon PR this weekend out in Omaha- You rock!

I'll leave you with this my friends. And don't forget it.

Cheers!!

18 Miles & A Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'm pretty good at doing dumb things. Sometimes it may be on purpose, just to get a good laugh out of people. Other times, it's solely from lack of thinking through situations.

I'm going to blame today on the later of the two.

i literally look like i'm crying in that picture. i'm not, however i did feel that sad. 

Today while on my 18 mile run, once I realized that I had made a pretty dumb decision, I started running through what an ESPN announcer would be saying about me, if I was a really good athlete that the public actually cared about. This is what I came up with:

"Well folks, with the New York Marathon being only 8 weeks out, we really can't help but to comment on Kait's recent downward spiral. I mean, as a long distance runner, one is almost obligated to stop and ask, what has this girl been thinking lately?"

"Not only has her diet been extremely off-track the past couple weeks, but she also has been consistantly coming in with lower mileage on weeks that should be a bit higher. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for the occasional off week, with a couple extra days off thrown in, but after a weekend like the one she had last weekend, one can't help but question if she really deserves those THREE days that she took off this past week."

I'm going to stop it there, before the announcers get too brutual and get into the grimy details of last weekend. Those ESPN guys can be ruthless.

So, to get to the point. This morning, my alarm went off at 7 AM. Because I had to run 18 miles. I hit snooze, I woke up at 9:30 AM.

Instead of flipping out, I recruited Andrew to go to Starbucks, or (earmuffs kids) Starf*cks as he likes to call it. We both pounded Pumpkin Spice Lattes, because there's no better way to start your day.

after the ice melted.

WHY do they consistently spell my name wrong?

Unless of course, you have to run 18 miles. Then, there are several other great ways to start your day. A banana, perhaps?

So without really thinking, and without really eating much aside from the latte and a cliff bar I hit the trails at 11 AM, with temperatures quickly climbing into the high 80's, partly sunny skies, 80% humidity, and pretty obnoxious winds.

WARNING: This + sugary milky coffee is not great long run fuel. 

It didn't take me too long to figure out, this was one of the worst life choices I had made in awhile. And I'm even including the glow in the dark face paint last weekend.

This is getting fairly long-winded, so I shall wrap it up. I suppose, as Kelly Clarkson so eloquently puts it, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I finished the run, and I lived to tell the tail. I maintained a pace of 8:40, and only one of those 18 miles were over a 9:00 pace. Regardless of the fact that miles 12-18 felt like I was getting the shit beat out of me with a metal bat, I finished. Boom.

Lesson learned life, lesson learned.

Cheers to some better life decisions in months to come ;)

Turning the Corner

Is anyone else absolutely blown away by the fact that September is right around the corner?  IT’S THIS SATURDAY!

I’ve never been one to go by official dates when it comes to the seasons. I know that there is an ‘official day’ that fall begins on, etc., but in my mind, September = fall. Something I am very excited about.

Last Fall in Vail

What am I excited about? 

• Football games
• Crisp cool days, coinciding with long runs
• Changing leaves
• Fall brews
• Bowls of chili
• Wearing sweats any time I’m not at work… the list goes on and on.

Maryland football!!!

my daily attire.

pretty leaves.

I'm so excited, in fact, I’m going to share my most recent smoothie recipe with you guys. I whipped this bad boy up on Saturday afternoon, and it hit the spot. Hard.

-1 bannana

-1/2 cucumber

-1 kiwi

-1/2 apple

-splash of lime juice

-splash of tart cherry concentrate

As you can see, I proceeded to eat the other half of the apple with peanut butter. One of my favorite combos ever.

Another exciting development: I hit my #plankaday goal last night. Actually topped it – check it out!

Hope everyone is having a splendid Tuesday. I’m off to run the following on the track:

2 mile warm-up

6 x 800 (2:50 pace)

400 between each 800

Couple miles cool down.

Holllaaaaaaa – cheers!

Monday Funday

I’m not upset that it’s Monday. Not even a little bit.

Want to know why? Because today is one step closer to Friday. And it’s not just my typical Friday, this Friday. It’s the start of Part-I-of-my-summer-vacay-in-Colorado Friday.

in 5 days i will be standing in this creek.

 I’m ecstatic.

This past weekend was what one may have labeled 'touristy'. On Saturday Andrew and I took the opportunity to go down to DC, since it’s a city neither of us have spent tons of time in. We had breakfast in Eastern market, checked out the U.S. history museum, and ate five million calories lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a popular, historical restaurant in the area.

Chili Cheese Fries. So good yet equally so bad. I know.

hanging out with the horse at the museum

I also saw this written on the sidewalk, and loved it. Very inspiring.

In preparation for the trip, I have a pretty busy week ahead. On my lunch break today I ran to Trader Joe’s to stock up on some super healthy snacks and produce and in the process picked up two of my favs:

4 cals per nut? yes please.

lunch on my back porch

 I’m also now officially following the training plan that Amanda made for me.  She put together my first week for me based off of a timed two-mile run that I did on the track for her, that I was actually really proud of:

splits were 6:35 & 6:31

Since Friday night we will be flying, and Saturday morning driving up into the mountains, I will be somehow squeezing in my long run Friday morning before work. 14 miles at 5 AM? Can’t wait.

I did 13 miles last night and it was decent. I can officially say that I’m over summer, mind-blowing humidity, and random out-of-nowhere thunderstorms. When I think about fall, cooler temperatures, football and all things pumpkin, I literally become giddy. But that’s a whole different rant, for a whole different day.

Hope you started off your week on the right foot. Any stories to share?

Cheers!

Running Long in Maryland

This past weekend marked a series of firsts out here for me... all which were great experiences.

In general, it was my first weekend living out here. It was great, in short. Friday night was my first time ever trying oysters. I can't really say that I fell in love with them, since it was kind of like eating snot a strange texture, but I'm never one to hate on food. I'd try them again, if the situation presented itself.

Saturday marked my first long run out here.. 16 miles. The city of Columbia has over 90 miles of paved biking/running trails (Yea, you heard me right, 90) so I went into the situation thinking I'd have no problem finding an out and back route of 16 miles.

My gigantic map of the 90 miles of trails

Turns out I thought wrong. I believe what the maps says; there's trails out here up the wazoo. However, they are hilly, constantly splitting off, winding through wooded areas and neighborhoods, so that it is nearly impossible to remember the way you came once you turn back around. However, somehow I managed to do a few random laps, and pushed through a solid 16 miles, just over two hours, sitting right around an 8 min pace. Too fast for what my long runs should be, but whatever. My training has been pretty lax the past week, with the combo of being sick and the move, so I was happy with the result.

I already shared this on Twitter, but for those of you who care, here are my splits.

The rest of Saturday was a beautiful blur as well. Andrew and I headed down to Annapolis for dinner with some of his family at a FANTASTIC Italian restaurant. Literally everything was to die for, from the champagne, to the many courses of food, to the coffee. I just about wept tears of happiness the entire meal. My favorite was probably the soft warm mozzarella served in some find of liquid happiness.  Something along the lines of butter, but better. The night also marked my first time trying clams, and tuna tartar. YUM.

I won't continue to give you a play by play of the weekend, but let me leave you with this. On a whim, we decided to head down to the DC zoo this afternoon, since it's free. As we were checking out the monkey house, one of the apes came right up to the glass, as if to say hello to everyone watching her. She proceeded to throw up, eat her vomit, throw up again, and once again eat it. The process may have continued on, but Andrew and I were so disgusted we had to walk away. Another first for me.

Andrew's favorite part of the zoo by far. His top choice for a pet.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well! Cheers!