esc's Goonies Never Say Die mentor group - closed (Page 11)

Hello fellow goonies-

I love all the posts about nutrition - it really helps with ideas...loved the cucumber turkey avocado!  Super yum. 

Joey1974 - thanks for sharing your 6 mini meals...I wish I could switch to that method...I've tried it and I need up skipping the mini meals and then get somewhere that I can actually sit down and eat and I'm ravished.  For about 4 weeks I was really good about preparing meals ahead of time and that was definitely key. 

Have a great week everyone!

By the way - I decided to get the silver membership...I had previously just used the free programs - but I had never been in a mentoring group or any kind of forum before - so maybe I would have stayed in the free membership if I'd have known how helpful being in one of these groups would have been.  However, it wasn't terrbily expensive and I'm also looking at it like this...I now have access to more detailed plans and some discounts with online retailers (I think, haven't explored that option, although BT has sent emails reminding me about it).  I think, if my membership goes to maintain this site and provide the extent of information that it does for free...I don't mind paying.  I like the idea that somewhere, someone that maybe can't justify spending the extra money for a paid membership can still benefit from the cool features of this site...For that I'm willing to step up and assist.  (Might be worth mentioning here that I may teach Political Science...but I have an MPH and my PhD will be in Public Policy - concentration in Community Health and Development - so I'm all for promoting health, especially to underserved and disadvantaged populations.) 

Nicole - I'm not a vegetarian so can't offer much advice on that front.  You should check out No Meat Athlete.  They have a blog and recipes and such.  Actually, even if you aren't a vegetarian, it's a site worth checking out.  The articles are top notch and the recipes can be easily adapted to suit your tastes - chicken replaces tofu just as easily as tofu replaces chicken!

I recently cooked up some homemade chicken noodle soup.  (I like making my own soups and sauces rather than buying canned.  It gives me a lot more control over what I'm putting in my body.)  For simplicity, I used frozen noodles.  I like making homemade noodles and dumplings but when I'm in a hurry the frozen variety works just fine.  To make, bring chicken broth to a boil (Adjust the amount of broth to fit your needs - I was feeding lots of boys so I used a 32 oz container of low sodium broth and ended up adding a little water to up the total volume).  Add assortment of fresh veggies - carrots, celery, potatoes, mushrooms (I sauteed mushrooms in a bit of butter before adding to the pot) - and boil until the veggies begin to soften.  You can season to suit your tastes - I used oregano, pepper, and basil.  Add noodles and cook according to package directions.  While everything is boiling away, heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a skillet.  Cook chicken in oil until juices run clear.  Shred chicken and add to pot.  Voila - chicken noodle soup.  For a creamy (and decidely less healthy version) you can mix butter, flour, and milk to add to the broth.  allrecipes.com has a simple cream soup base recipe.

Hello all!  Today was a beautiful day, a whopping 48 degrees!!  I made sure to get out of work on time so I could fit a short walk in before the sun went down.  The dog really appreciated it also, she gets anxious when she doesn't get to run several days a week.  Then I did 45 minutes of a weight/cardio workout inside. 

Food... I think I eat pretty well.  I try to eat mostly fruits and veggies and for dinner add some meat with potato/rice/or noodle.  I'm also a fan of soups.  I make a big pot on Sunday's and then divide it out for my lunches for the week.  If it isn't soup then i make salads for the week.  I chop the veggies on Sunday so I can just throw it all together the night before work.  I try to get everything ready at night because I'm up at 5 am to get to work by 7 (I have a 50minute drive) and I'm usually out of work by 4 or 4:30.  I fall apart a dinner sometimes because my husband doesn't get home until 7pm and eating dinner together is something we make sure to do.  I need to think of some quick light snacks to have before I have dinner so I don't over eat and then go to bed.  Ohh and I love breads... all kinds of breads!    So I keep little to none in the house.

Here is my favorite soup: 

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup

I find this to also be good if you replace one of the potato's with acorn squash and add some leaks.  Lactose and I don't get along so I omit the yogurt. 

I'm out of work early tomorrow so I'm hoping to get a nice run in! 

Side note: They say we could see the Northern Lights tonight around 10.  I wonder if I can stay awake until then?

huge HalHigdon plan fan (www.halhigdon.com) - I would drop pick up the Novice plan for this week and see how it goes.  I usually follow the intermediate plan, but came back from an injury 6 weeks before Wisconsin Dells half marathon dropping back to the Novice plan.  Better to be a little undertrained and feeling awesome than to risk injury or worse (what usually happens to me) frustration.  I was slower five minutes from my PR (flat course in Illinois this year) and this was an incredibly hilly course. Good luck!

Huge soup fans in our house!  Here's whats on tap tonight:  http://cleaneatingmag.com/Recipes/Recipe/Moroccan-Buffalo-Chickpea-Chili.aspx (made it exact as written with beef stew meat instead of buffalo

Thanks for the new recipe - I'm intrigued!

With your most recent long runs in the 5 to 7 range, I'd be a little leary of jumping right to 9.  I'd recommend being a little more conservative.  Maybe something more like:

1/23 - 3/3/3/5-6 (dropback)
1/30 - 3/4/3/8
2/6 - 3/5/3/9
2/13 - 3/4/3/7 (dropback)
2/20 - 3/6/3/10 <------(you could swap this with the week above so you'll have more recovery closer to race week)
2/27 - 3/6/3/10
3/5 - 3/6/3/11
3/12 - 3/4/3/2 (taper)
3/18 - race week

Am I reading this right that you are racing the weekend of the 18th?  And not on the 18th?

I know this doesn't take you up to a 12-miler but it gets you pretty darn close while also reducing the milage jumps from week to week.  I also feel that for a half-mary you can go with a shorter taper.  You're still getting two full recovery weeks between the last long run and race day. 

Okay...I looked at your logs and see that you are actually racing on the 18th which makes the above plan null and void.  Let's try this again.

If you're feeling good on the week of the 27th, you can bump out the long run to 11.  If you're feeling beat up you keep it at 10.  For what it's worth, I don't recall ever running much more than 10 or 11 miles for my longest run leading up to my previous half-mary's.  When I've run a proper pace on race day, I've always been able to finish.  The other thing to keep in mind.  This is just one race out of many to come.  You're better off making it to this one happy and healthy.  This gives you a solid start to the year and you've got a jumping off point to train for the next race. 

Ugh.  Hope you get to feeling better soon.

One option for doing a long run the week before the race is to get it in early in the week.  I suppose it all depends on the flexibility of your schedule.  I'm "racing" this weekend so over the last few weeks I kept moving my long run earlier and earlier in the week.  Last week I ran my long run on monday.  I'm feeling fully recovered and ready to go this week.  I suspect that if you get the last long run in by Wednesday of the week before your race you'll still have plenty of rest time.

love all the recipes goonies!

Joey - pictures look great!  You have done an amazing job!

Kristen - feel better! Being sick is the pits!

I got to ride outside yesterday!  I actually had a great time on the bike, which is hard for me to remember. Due to scheduling out the day, I realized I needed to do a brick and followed up the bike with a run.  Legs felt really crazy that first mile, as expected.  What I didn't expect is I really had to watch the watch to keep my pace down.  For some reason, I kept wanting to run that mile at 8:24, which is my 5K pace.  My legs felt heavy and tired, but they still wanted to go fast.

I LOVE that I am in such great shape these days. I was able to enjoy playing tag with my Cub Scouts last night.  They thought it was great fun that I played with them instead of watching them play.

I got an easy 3 mile run in this morning, followed by some upper body weight training.  Now I am headed out to the pool to see how tired my arms are.  Yes, in a perfect world,  I would have not lifted a few hours before swimming, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Hope everyone has a great day!

It will be like that on race day, too.  It's the right pace for a sprint, a bit too fast for an oly, and way too fast for a HIM or IM.  In my first HIM I had to make myself walk the first aid station to get my run pace where it should have been.  Even after 56 miles on the bike, my first mile of running was an 8 m/m pace.  There's nothing like a good bike ride to get the legs all reved up! 

coolgenes - 2012-01-25 4:52 PM You all are going to laugh at this. I didn't set my alarm correctly last night and ended up sleeping in so an unexpected rest day - literally oh well...

That's better than setting your alarm correctly but then deciding to ignore it!  I've done that way too many times since taking up the sport.  Enjoy your rest day!

I posted it - I swear it works.  hubby started in December with a few lengths here and thereand finally got up to about 20 minutes in the pool , and started the official 0TO1650 plan last week with 700 yards each session.  Yesterday he did the first 900 yard session, the first segment was 200 yards - the longest he had done without taking a break. He was way nervous, but after our swim session he said, 'you know, that wasn't too bad.  because the way it's set up (you do a long set to start out your workout) I have more and more confidence.'   I can teach him all the drills, etc., but he has to get confidence all on his own.

and I've had plenty of running injuries but could always swim (except for the week after last years half marathon in florida where I forgot my body glide and ended up with a huge strawberry into the inside of my thigh.  I was bleeding quite a bit crossing the finish line and it made the last few miles unbearable (going back for revenge in a couple weeks).

 PS - I did have two swimming injuries.  Once when I broke my finger hitting the wall.  The other when I was swimming in a pool in florida the year before that didn't have lap lanes or anyway to know when the end was coming up.  The sun musta blinded me, but I swam right into the wall.  Nice raspberry on my head for a week or so!

okay everyone - fess up!  clutzy?  graceful?

Gracefully clutzy?  I'm sure I look like a ballerina while I'm falling.

I have twice tripped over my own feet while out for a run and executed a really nice superman flop to the pavement.  We won't even talk about the trail running.  My philosophy is if a trail runner falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear the cursing then it didn't even happen.

My best move so far has been a clipped-in zero mile per hour bike crash in my driveway.  I always clip my left foot in first, get moving, then clip in my right.  When I come to a stop I always unclip my right foot and lean to the right.  One day I was getting ready to head out for a ride.  I was at the top of the driveway but my brain was apparently still in the house.  I clipped my right foot in first, had a moment of utter confusion followed immediately by the thought that I should try to lean left, then I simply resigned myself to the fact that I was going down.  Bam.  Laying on my side in the driveway with my bike on top of me.   I made enough ruckus that the neighbor's dog starting barking which in turn set all the other dogs in the neighborhood to barking.  It sounded like they were laughing at me.

Quivering Quads trail half  marathon - passed a couple guys on this single track muddy course.  Said "Good job guys" as  went by (kinda proud of myself at that moment). Took off running, tripped over a tree root and slid like a penguin down the hill. Popped up with a Mary Lou Retton kinda dismount, yelled "I'm Okay!"  and heard them laughing as I hobbled along.  I made it a mission to not let them pass me.  My hubby asked What Happened To You?  and I said, Oh, same old same old - just a clutz. I usually trip over roots and imaginary debris. I've mastered the tuck and roll quite nicely.

Biking accident at 0 mph.  new bike, headed out on my own.  clipped in, chain fell off, I fell in slow mode to the ground right behind my car.  about 50 of the elite cyclists on their morning ride zoomed past me in a blur of colored jerseys.

I picked up the bike - put it on my car and went home nursing my pride   Now I ride with the big dogs and when someone falls, eh, it's part of the adventure!

enders_shadow - 2012-01-26 6:05 AM I wish I could only claim one zero-velocity bike accident. The last one I had (in my driveway) resulted in a huge goose egg on my inner thigh for about a month (where the cross-bar hit). But there have been others... I've also had an "at speed" bike accident - although I was going up an overpass, so "speed" is possibly a misnomer. I was racing the national duathlon (they let mere mortals in along with the elite). The bike portion was a 3x loop. On my first loop, one of the speedy men (hopefully) accidentally lost his water bottle while passing me, it bounced off the pavement and into my spokes. Fortunately I wasn't seriously hurt (strained my shoulder trying to catch myself and road rash galore), but since I wasn't seriously hurt, the medics that I hobbled up on couldn't take me in - so I had to walk 4 miles all bashed up. (To be fair they would have taken me if I had waited until their post was over...but I didn't feel like sitting there for hours.) I'm feeling better so far today, so I'm headed to work. 3 miles planned to run during Elder Daughter's piano lesson (at the Y).

oh geez - that sounds painful.  Four miles hobbling - you are a rock star!

bruises, bumps, etc. are badges of honor. I tried roller blading (that was not a good idea) and had to wear a skirt so as not to have fabric from pants touch the resulting scrapes and cuts.  I was pretty proud of the.  I tell my friends, ya can't earn stuff like this sitting on the couch

Have a great day - glad you're feeling better!

enders_shadow - 2012-01-26 7:05 AM I wish I could only claim one zero-velocity bike accident. The last one I had (in my driveway) resulted in a huge goose egg on my inner thigh for about a month (where the cross-bar hit). But there have been others... I've also had an "at speed" bike accident - although I was going up an overpass, so "speed" is possibly a misnomer. I was racing the national duathlon (they let mere mortals in along with the elite). The bike portion was a 3x loop. On my first loop, one of the speedy men (hopefully) accidentally lost his water bottle while passing me, it bounced off the pavement and into my spokes. Fortunately I wasn't seriously hurt (strained my shoulder trying to catch myself and road rash galore), but since I wasn't seriously hurt, the medics that I hobbled up on couldn't take me in - so I had to walk 4 miles all bashed up. (To be fair they would have taken me if I had waited until their post was over...but I didn't feel like sitting there for hours.) I'm feeling better so far today, so I'm headed to work. 3 miles planned to run during Elder Daughter's piano lesson (at the Y).

Oh....I've had more than one at zero mph.  The one I listed was just my best. 

Some other notables: I fell at a stop sign on a group ride and fell into a ditch at a stop sign with a car watching.  I ended up with grass stains on the back of my jersey on that one.  Good times.