Crafted Energy

 Wait, it's September already? Looks like it has been for like two weeks, I'm just super lazy with writing anything. Between working, trying to get my CEUs in order to keep my Medical Assistant certification, and race training, I guess I use up most of my time! Of course, when none of that is going on, I'm sleeping. Work hard, rest harder, am I right? 

Speaking of training, how are things going? Much better than half training because the weather is finally cooling down, hence me being able to drink coffee outside without sweating. When I say cooling down, I mean it's just 105 instead of 115, but the mornings are crisp, in the mid-70s. I kicked off week three of 5K training yesterday. The knee seems to be cooperating about 85% of the time. The first week went well, just relaxed runs to get the body back into the game after a week off. Week two ended up swapping a run for biking due to knee annoyance. I had my first fartlek workout of this cycle today and it went exceptionally well. I told my coach last week that if this week ended up in shambles due to my knee being an a-hole again, I'm pulling the plug on running until 2021. *Knocks on wood* Really though, I'm hoping it works out. A girl can only do so many quad sets in a day.

So I have something new to write about today, at least from what I can recall. I don't think I've given a food product review before. Maybe I have? I didn't care to scroll back and check so we'll roll with it. Before I continue on, I will mention that because I am a Switch4Good Athlete, I received these bars for free. 

I honestly had never heard of Crafted Energy before until they popped into my Inbox. Surprising since they're located right here in the heart of Arizona. A bar that's Vegan, Gluten Free, AND full of clean ingredients? Sign me up. I was very excited to give them a try.

I'm a total geek for cool packaging. Some say it's a total waste of money that the company spends on, which I suppose is true, but if you have unique packaging, I'm giving you bonus points. It comes with a type of graph outlining all of the different nutritional aspects of what they are achieving in their products as well as a little run down of each bar. 

Crafted Energy has created bars for specific sports to support athletes in their endeavors. Kind of an interesting concept. I found it very unique because I've done all three activities. Boy, do I miss climbing, though. 

As mentioned, they focus on specific sports. The sampler pack is one of each bar, all of which have their own unique flavor profile. I tried the Climber one first.

Pretty hefty in calories but that's a good thing when you're doing endurance sports. 

Here is the list of ingredients for this bar, specifically. Talk about clean ingredients!

The texture and appearance reminded me of a Larabar, another one of my favorite brands. It was soft on the teeth but hearty enough to provide a good snack. You can really get a great flavor profile as well, especially the ginger. 

I didn't capture anything from the other two bars but they were very enjoyable. The blueberry flavor in the cyclist bar reminded me of pie. I have to say though, the runner bar was my favorite. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a runner but I'm from Michigan and I think we have cherry flavor in our blood. Overall, I was super pleased. I'd definitely buy some in the future. If you are interested, you can get a sampler pack of your own by clicking here. It's $7.99 with free shipping! I do not get any kickback from the sales, I'm just simply here to spread word about a cool company who is doing something great.

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend and we'll see you next time!

The Good News Fairy

 It's Friday, or as my Mother-in-Law says, "Blursday". She has a point, though. Do days really matter anymore? If it weren't for my training calendar, I'd just operate by sunrise to sunset. Before we get into the good news, let's get geeky for a moment. 

Last night, we got to watch the ISS (International Space Station) fly by! There are two things I'm pretty obsessed about: weather and space. It went by so quick and was like the brightest moving star I've ever seen. Would have been cool if Bob and Doug (Dragon Crew) were still on there but alas, I still waved like a weirdo. 

I cycled my life away last week but thankfully, I enjoy riding the bike. I ended up riding the most miles I ever have in a week (110) and my longest ride (30.some odd miles) for what would have been my long run. Some people ask me how I keep my mind occupied while on the bike for that long. Sometimes I watch Amazon Prime Video, which currently I'm on The Mysterious Mrs. Maisel, or I listen to podcasts and music. Otherwise, I'll do a ride with the iFit crew. I completed a series in Boulder with Ryan Petry, a professional mountain biker, and it was a blast. Originally, we were told our bike didn't have bluetooth but I was able to play around and hack it to access the settings menu. It's an Android system on the backend. Now, I have my Trekz Titanium's connected! Normally I wouldn't care but if I ride while my husband is still working, I like to be as quiet as I can so I don't disturb him. He says he doesn't care but it's the least I could do, at least when I don't wake up early to ride before we both start work!

So, as I mentioned in the last entry, I was having knee problems that sidelined my running. I've still been keeping up on my rehab. I just found out my PT practice has an app that they put your plans into to follow. It's super helpful! I just press play and run through the routine. I had my MRI on Tuesday. I wasn't really nervous at all. This was my second MRI I've had (first one was on my hip). I arrived early and checked in, shelled out the x-amount of money, and waited. The staff was super nice! I really appreciate that both as a patient and as someone who has worked in the medical field. They had two separate what seem like mini-waiting rooms, one for women and one for men. I joked with another lady that was in there waiting to get her Mammogram done that it was like we were at the spa but there wasn't champagne. 

The test was quick, maybe about 30 minutes. I listened to Led Zeppelin while the sounds went on around me. I actually find it quite relaxing just laying there. I fell asleep during my first MRI but that one was also at 6:30am. I had the study burned on a disc to take with me just in case I'd have to send it over to my sports physician back in Michigan. He's really the only person I trust. He has diagnosed both of my previous injuries. I didn't expect to get the results so quick but my doctor called a few hours after I arrived home to tell me that there wasn't any sign of damage. Everything looked intact aside from some swelling in my meniscus. While I was relieved I also said to myself, "that was the most expensive test to tell me I'm fine". Really though, as much as we hate to pay money for specific things, I'd rather know I'm good than to carry on into the unknown. While I really wanted to just lace up my shoes and run this week, my coach has me finishing out the rest of my cycling week and we'll start up again Monday. She's the smart one!

The other piece of great news I received really got me jumping for joy. I actually forgot that I had signed up for a Strava challenge at the beginning of July with Sole Sports, a local running store company that was partnered with Hoka One One, the shoes I use. At the end, they were going to randomly pick four winners. Long and behold, I was one of the four after receiving an email. That made my year and saved my wallet. 

I actually wanted to buy the Edge when I was due for shoes recently but the Clifton 6 had went on discount so I couldn't pass up the price tag that was under $100. Living in a pandemic means ballin' on a budget, am I right? The Edge is so light, I was pretty mind blown. They may look a little silly but don't all Hokas? I'll take some funky looking shoes in favor of some serious comfort. Can't wait to test these out next week! Maybe I should go play the lottery if this winning streak will hold strong...

The Brave Athlete

“Your physique, your responsiveness to training, and your personal records (PRs) have little to say about how brave you are.” - excerpt from The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

I started a book club for my running team to get some camaraderie going on and to develop a way for us to connect further since we aren’t doing any in-person meetups for like....a long time. Hello Arizona hot spot for COVID. Reading is something I’ve been doing a heck of a lot more since quarantine started. Being unemployed really gives you a lot of unused time in your day so why not pick up a book? I’ve since started a new remote job but the weekends have literally been our heads in our books. Well, in our eReaders. We treated ourselves to new eReaders a little while ago. I’ll do a review on that in another entry. While I’m still old school and love the feeling of an actual book, this has been really nice to have. The library has been closed since April but with the use of OverDrive, I can check out electronic books and audiobooks. Definitely something to look into with your local library! I can even get books from my old library in Michigan. If you need some mental stability for your training and you want to know how the brain connects with all of this, I definitely suggest picking up “The Brave Athlete”. We’ve only read the first section and it’s as if I’m in anatomy class again but it’s actually interesting because it’s from an athlete’s perspective. 

Remember last week, when I was talking about how hard I was on myself from feeling like I’m losing hope in this training cycle? Well, after my Sunday rest day, I went into the new week feeling like a lioness ready to hunt anything in her path. My speed work on Tuesday (400x6, 100x6) was the strongest-feeling workout I’ve had in forever. The rest of the week seemed to dim down. Hill strides were lackluster and interrupted by people who can’t seem to stay on one side of the road. I was suppose to go to physical therapy to get fitted for new orthotics only for the appointment to be canceled because someone in the office contracted the virus. I do hope they will be ok and I’m glad it happened before I went. I ended up ordering some with recommendation from my coach, who also works in a running store, and they are literally the most comfy things my feet have touched aside from my Oofos. I had a double workout Friday (ride and run) and my feet felt like they were on supported clouds. We had an excessive heat warning from Friday morning through Monday night. I had contemplated biking indoors instead of doing my long run but my husband looked toward me and said, “What if race day is like this? Are you not going to run?”. I mean, he’s right. We got up a half hour earlier and set out. I had a 90 minute effort combining 9 rounds of easy efforts with pickups every 9th minute. Naturally, I went out too fast. I hit a lot of red lights. I was ready to send it in after 45 minutes. Once again, I felt defeated. I studied my data after the workout and noticed I ended up staying with in my range for almost the entire run but I was dead. It was as if someone took a sledgehammer and killed my stamina. Again, I taught myself to not complain. My coach told me that I’m still gaining fitness and she’s right. Sunday rolled around and as I sat in my epsom bath and meditated, I told myself, “this week is a new week”. It’s time to stop kidding myself and focus in on the task at hand. Run slow for recovery. Controlled paces on speed. Breath like a normal friggin’ person. I have early meetings all week so that’ll help get me out the door before it’s blazing hot outside. 

I tried a new thing this week: sun tea! Yeah, I’m way late to the game on this one. I drink about a gallon or more of water per day. I also pee a ton but that’s beside the point. Sometimes water gets boring. My mother-in-law was talking about sun tea and I asked how to make it. That was probably a dumb question but this is new to me. I filled up my big mason jar with filtered water, two tea bags, and set it outside in the sun for about 3 hours. You’ll want to use glass. Plastic is a big no-no, especially in the heat unless of course you want some BPA with that drink.

I had to wear hot mitts to bring it in because it got so hot! But the color change is a good indicator that it’s definitely steeped well. 

I took the tea bags out and put the jar in the fridge overnight. Now, I heard this step isn’t needed and some people just pour it over ice. That’s totally fine too. After about 24 hours, I sliced some lemon, put it in a glass with ice and we had some delicious iced tea. I ended up making this again for the next three days. It was so refreshing! 

This past week, I ended up taking the easy way out because it was literally 120 degrees outside and just warmed up my kettle and poured it over nice. We’ve been drinking a lot of herbal teas and what not. I’ve been 60 days alcohol free as of today. I don’t know when I’ll drink again (or if I will) but I’m pretty content doing these little fun activities. 

Crush the Doubt

Doubt. It's something that can creep into any athlete's mind at any given time. I definitely had a lot of it last week. When you can't mentally focus it can really affect your training. My knee has been up and down lately and my long run the weekend before felt like the most garbage run I've had in a while. But, I'm always one to preach about not getting down on yourself even if your performance is lacking. I legit cried for a moment during that run as I was coming into the home stretch. "I don't know if I can do this", I said out loud to my husband who was cycling next to me. Going for a personal record can bring on some of the toughest training. After I got home, I snapped out of my funk and focused my mind back to what mattered. Today. One day at a time. The race isn't for another 8 or so weeks. One day will not make or break the finish. This past week, I took some time off of running to give my knee a rest. I cycled Monday through Wednesday. I feel like biking workouts are harder than running workouts! Tuesday was roughly 86 minutes in the saddle full of different intervals and a heavy climb. I got my butt handed to me but it felt SO good. Sometimes you have to power through that fog to really see yourself again. If you're ever having doubt in yourself, just stop and take a moment. Breath. Rise up. Say to yourself "You are strong". That's something I learned from my yoga instructor. 

I'm going to try and get through this quickly as I can since I only have 23% battery left. The charger is on the other side of the room and I'm content on the floor icing my knee. Give me a break. This entry will probably be shorter than the others. 

During my Whole Foods order this past week, I put some JUST Egg in my cart to finally give it a try. I typically am just one to make tofu scrambles when I want something that's "egg" like. I'm all for trying these new fad vegan foods, though. 

So, for starters, it was $4.99 for this 12oz bottle. I still buy eggs for my husband and they are $5.99 for a dozen (Vital Farms; it's the only brand I'll buy because it's as close to 'humane' as I can get). There weren't any real instructions on the bottle. It literally just says "scramble like an egg". Okay. I ended up going to their website to get a better idea of what to do. Oil? No oil? Butter? Do tell me so I don't mess this up. Their site confirmed to add some oil or butter to a warm pan. I poured enough in the pan to basically coat the bottom, as seen above in the background. They start to bubble as they get warm so I moved them around, as you would with eggs. As they started to become closer to being done, the serving was smaller than half a piece of bread. I ended up cooking the whole bottle to make enough to feed us. I eat a lot of food, what can I say.

They definitely do turn out fluffy but again, you need to make a lot to get a good portion size. Overall taste? Not terrible. Definitely doesn't taste like eggs, but not terrible. Not delicious either, though, in my opinion. I do like that they are cholesterol-free. Would I buy it again? Probably not. While I do appreciate that there is a plant-based egg replacement option, I think you're better off just cooking up some tofu. I definitely would get more of a serving size from 3-4 eggs than the whole bottle of this stuff. Maybe you've had JUST Egg and loved it. That's great! We all have our own sense of taste and likes. I am curious about their mayo but I think I'll stick to making my own. Not all of these fad vegan foods taste amazing. However, it makes me happy to see so many options available. I think the number of people trying plant-based diets has increased, especially during these pandemic times. Go team plants!

What the H....

What the h....but not what you think. It's actually h for health. 'What the Health' was a documentary I watched last night that was rather mind-blowing. But we'll get into that in a minute.

This is actually a real-time photo. Like, I literally just took this as I'm writing this.

We closed out week 4 of training with roughly 28 miles ran and also, 28 miles road. I had two big highlights during this past week. I had an awesome long run with a faster finish and didn't lose my breathing technique like I tend to sometimes do when I speed play. I also survived my first double workout. My coach prescribed my typical Friday recovery ride but also threw in the option of doing a short run. Of course, I was going to go for it because I wanted to see how it felt. I hopped on the bike, road steadily for 45 minutes, keeping my RPMs between 85-90. Afterward, I set out for a 20-minute run. Is this what it feels like to do the beginning of a duathlon? One day I'll know what it feels like to train for that. Either way, I was happy how my body responded despite the run being in the mid-80s. My legs felt slightly tired at the beginning of my long run but quickly got into their proper form. I'm really thankful to be in a mindset where I appreciate my performance for what it is. Is every workout perfect? Absolutely not. But, I don't dwell on it anymore like I used to. I used to be so hard on myself for not hitting specific paces or whatever. I see so many people on Strava or whatever platform they share their stuff on throwing up a million excuses as to why the run they did wasn't what they wanted it to be. Maybe instead of creating an excuse, just accept how it went. You went out there and you did the dang thing. Be thankful your legs still turn over. One day, they might not. Positive mental attitude. On to week 5 and it looks like we're getting spicy with tomorrow's speed work.

Okay, so back to what I began with. I'm a little behind on watching the documentary (it came out in 2017), 'What The Health'. I'm on a free trial with Netflix right now (just to have access to one show, lol), and it popped up on there. I'm all about watching documentaries in general, especially if it involves supporting plant-based diets. Going vegan was the best decision I've ever made. My husband and I just got our yearly blood work done and his cholesterol numbers dropped dramatically. I highlighted this in my Instagram stories but, my protein level is perfect. You know where all protein comes from? PLANTS. Sometimes I just want to slap every vegan hater in the face and tell them to go read up on science. Anyway, the documentary. 

I'm pretty bad at summing up films but I'm going to do my best here. Of course, this film is criticized for "cherry-picking" specific information to make it look like the food industry is terrible and vegans rule the world in health. Maybe we don't rule the world BUT the food industry is indeed horrible. I didn't need a film to tell me that. However, the amount of detail poured into this film was intense. Kip Anderson basically goes on this hunt to talk with all of the major organizations and just simply wants to know why they promote eating specific foods that have direct links to causing cancer and other diseases. Dairy alone has been proven to cause breast cancer yet the Susan G. Komen Foundation has a sponsorship with Yoplait. WHAT THE H. Komen also receives sponsorship from Kentucky Fried Chicken, for Christ's sake. How does that even make sense? The American Cancer Society is sponsored by Tyson Foods, one of the largest corporations that produce poultry products, yet there is also scientific data linked to eating meat and poultry to specific cancers and disease. Shoot, even the American Heart Association is linked with the Texas Beef Council yet we're told not to eat red meat because it could cause HEART disease. I was seriously mind-blown by the end of this. My husband still eats eggs every once in a while but he must have said multiple times "I'm never touching eggs again". I wish I took notes or something to show the specific data that was presented. Even the interview between Kip and the American Diabetes Association ended with the chairman walking out because he couldn't talk about how their promotion of specific diet changes actually doesn't help mitigate diabetes at all. It's all a vicious circle, right? I've never been a fan of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Do I think they've done a lot of good for breast cancer and raising awareness? Yes. However, organizations like this shouldn't be paying their board members millions of dollars every year. If everyone decided to adopt a plant-based diet then there would be less sickness in the world, fewer cancers, and less chronic illness. But then, fewer visits to doctors and hospitals which in return means fewer prescriptions. Heaven forbid the drug companies don't get paid. Then the government....oh the government. It's all a crooked scheme. Anyone that comes to me thinking about adopting a plant-based diet, I automatically tell them to read "How Not to Die" or "The China Study". Both books are huge and super long but full of specific scientific data proving that this way of eating works. Maybe I'm just up on my vegan high-horse but in reality, I just want people to be healthier. The next time you put a hot dog in your mouth, you probably should light up a cigarette too while you're at it. Both are in the same category and labeled as carcinogens. For the record, I don't think you're a jerk if you eat meat. I don't think of you any less. However, I would hope you would drop the stigma of how we vegans are crazy and don't know what we're doing with our lives. Clearly, we're on to something. 

Phew, that was a doozy. I'm still pretty fired up about it. I even put a hold on "How Not to Die" from the library to read it a second time. 

I know I haven't shared a recipe in like forever and today, you aren't getting one but I will share something I made! My husband was saying how his yoga mat wasn't smelled the greatest. I also realized that mine was getting rather dirty. You know tile floors and living in the desert means your floors are NEVER really that clean. My friend, who is an RYT 200, told me you shouldn't clean a normal mat with just water and soap. It actually can make the mat deteriorate quicker. I did some searching around and long and behold, my yoga guide, Adriene, had made a video on how to make homemade yoga mat spray! I already had all of the ingredients, minus the little spray bottles.

Got this set on Amazon for like $6. Three glass bottles with sprayers and a little funnel!

Three simple ingredients. Yes, it says facial mist but it's fine.

Boom! Homemade spray!

Tee tree oil smells so good and clean. I learned it has anti-fungal properties in it, too. I sprayed down both our mats and used a microfiber towel to wipe them down. I highly suggest this easy combo.

The end!

Coffee is Life

It's definitely been the type of week where I didn't know what day it was. I spent all day Saturday thinking it was Sunday. I even ordered my groceries and didn't realize until after the fact that I had another day to take care of it. Oh well, what's wrong with being one step ahead of my non-existent schedule?

Week 3 is checked off the training calendar. I think the most significant workout was my Fartlek on Thursday (6/9). It was somewhat of a pyramid workout, increasing the time with each section. We had 3 x 3, 2 x 2, 1 x 1, and then back up. I ran the longest hard effort I have in forever, a total of 4:00 minutes. Doesn't sound that long to many but running that to as close to 8:20-40 as I can is a mind f*ck in itself. I completed the workout and patted myself on the back as I always do. You see, I run solo 100% of the time now. I know people who run in the area but there are some roadblocks in the way: I'm not comfortable being around people yet and they are a heck of a lot faster than I am. I do what my coach tells me and that's enough for me. My introvert self is happy being alone in my own element with my audiobook in-ear. Right now, I'm in the middle of Matt Fitzgerald's "Running the Dream" and it is fantastic. Resonating with this one is easy because it's set in Arizona and he's running with NAZ Elite, a team of amazing runners who run for Hoka One One, including the queen of Flagstaff, Steph Bruce. All of Matt's books have been a hit in my library. If you are into audiobooks, might I suggest checking out Libro.fm. You can select a local bookstore and when you purchase a book, they get the payout. I know Kindle is the end all be all of all things books nowadays it seems but hey, let's keep the little guys open. And support your local libraries!

Anyway, back to running. So my knee was talking to me this week. Yep, you guessed it. The same one that gave me trouble last year and put me in physical therapy for four months. I still do my exercises religiously and take more time than I ever have with recovery movements, icing, and Epsom on a weekly basis. Nothing is perfect forever, though. The soreness comes and goes. My therapist told me I wouldn't be completely pain-free but I'd be much better than I was and I definitely have been! I don't mess around with any weird sensations, soreness, or pain while I think most runners "walk it off" or slap some KT tape on anything to mask whatever may be developing. I didn't spend over $400 (per MONTH, and yes, that's with insurance) in therapy to just mask the pain. I communicated with my coach on Friday that it wasn't feeling too hot. I had a bike workout that day, which was good. Biking doesn't bother it. She gave me the best advice, as usual. Saturday morning I opted to bike instead of doing my long run that would have involved some hard efforts in the middle. Normally I'm completely fine with this, however, I was really looking forward to this workout. I sucked up my sulking face and did the same efforts on the bike which turned out to be harder than I thought they'd be. Never underestimate cycling. It will truly kick your butt. Sunday's are very much a relaxing and "do absolutely nothing" days around here. I cook a big breakfast, we drink our coffee on the patio, and typically read the rest of the day until dinner. My weekly long Epsom baths have been Sunday afternoons and they've been the BOMB! I throw in some peppermint oil to clear my head and it's just.....a vacation in my bathroom. Maybe one day we'll have one of those fancy soaking tubs you see in mansions. Either way, it's Monday. My knee feels much better. Rest will not kill you. Listen to your body. You won't lose fitness taking a day or two off or switching workouts. 

I wanted to close out today by sharing something I tried the other day. So, I'm a coffee snob. I'll admit it. I don't drink frap's from Starbucks. I don't really like any frozen type of coffee drink. I don't put 10 pumps of whatever in my cup. I grind my beans fresh every morning after measuring them out to a specific gram. I have an expensive coffee machine and a fancy burr grinder. Roll your eyes and shoot me. We make coffee at home every day so its paid for itself. I used a basic Mr. Coffee drip machine for the longest time then graduated to a Keurig. When I met my husband, he used a french press. I had no idea how to even operate it. Here we are now, some 8 years later, and I want to be the world's best barista. I applied for a job at Starbucks hoping to just learn how to use a proper espresso machine. While I typically drink my coffee black, I've been craving a flat white lately. If you aren't familiar with that drink, it's basically some espresso with a lot of milk. Being vegan, I wasn't sure how it'd be with almond milk. We also don't have an espresso machine (oh but do I want one so bad). I watched a video of a lady making one at home just using a french press. I thought to myself, "I'M TRYING THIS." Here's how it went....

This is our electric kettle. I heated up some water.

This is where the beans are poured in for grinding.

I set the machine way down to get a very fine grind. The benefits of a burr grinder are the multiple grind settings.

I threw some milk in a cup and microwaved it on and off until it reached a temperature of 155 degrees F. Milk has to be a specific temperature for it to foam otherwise it's total crap.

I brewed a mock "espresso" in the french press. It actually wasn't too bad and after a few stirs, it had some crema. Crema is the layer that sits on top of the espresso, typically a light brown color.

I poured the hot milk into the french press and proceeded to foam it. This is done by literally moving the filter up and down for about 30 seconds. You can feel the milk get thicker. 

I was super surprised that it actually did indeed create a decent amount of foam for non-dairy milk.

Yeah, I know, no fancy cup art here. You then pour the milk on top of the espresso. It wasn't half bad!

It was a fun little experiment. One day I'll have an espresso machine. In like 10 years because they're a million dollars. We typically buy our coffee local from Press Coffee. I like supporting local coffee businesses plus, they roast our coffee just a few days before it arrives on our doorstep. Pay attention to your roasting dates. It makes a big difference. 

Okay, I'll get off my coffee high horse. Enjoy your week.

Hey, It's June

One of these days when I say "I'll keep up on this blog thing" I'll actually mean it, I swear. I mean, what else do I have to do? I'm not working. I've deemed myself a professional live-in chef to my husband. I'd like to think I'm the next Charity Morgan but minus the football team.  If you have no idea who I'm talking about, check out The Game Changers.

I think it's safe to say we are all riding the worst rollercoaster ever. I won't get political on here but let's be honest, we're fricked. We're in the midst of a pandemic, which I feel like many people have already forgotten about. Over 100,000 people are dead and cases are still on the rise. I can't even type that without getting upset and sad. I won't even go into the problem of police brutality. Everything is just as bad in every way. I can't be out there with everyone but Lord knows I stand here with them.

One subject matter that has come up quite often these past few months is mental health and how there has been a rise in those seeking help. I've never publically talked about this and just recently came out about it to my running coach but anxiety is something I've been dealing with for a while now. Due to recent events, it's pretty much been much more prominent in my life than not. Usually, I'm pretty good at making it subside or preventing it from coming on at all. I don't take medications or anything as I like to take a holistic approach to everything. It was suggested I take a gander at the application Headspace and it's been awesome. They are even offering a free year subscription to those who are unemployed, otherwise, you can try out a 14-day trial by clicking here. It might feel weird at first. Sitting still for 5-10 minutes is actually a lot harder than it may seem but after a few days, I've looked forward to it so much. Whenever I want just to sit and have a guided meditation has been wonderful and a big aid at emptying my thoughts. Mental health in the form of telemedicine is something that is slowly becoming more widely available but I still think the accessibility can be improved and the cost. Either way, it's okay to ask for help, even if you think whatever you may have going on isn't "as bad" as someone else. Just talking with someone can be such a huge weight off your shoulders. I've been journaling every morning for the past 21 days. I even set a "Digital Wellbeing" block on all of my social media apps from 5am-12pm though I'm considering making it longer. I absolutely love my Instagram family but sometimes, it's too much. It's too much to take in on everything being posted. It's too much to consistently try to seek validation so people can be like HEY LOOK WHAT I DID I'M THE BEST. I'm guilty of this and I know some of you that read this are too. We all are at some point. There is tons of positivity radiating on there but sometimes it's equally met with negativity. I've connected with a lot of people I wish lived closer to me and I've also become annoyed with those I wish would take a break and find out who they really are. Either way, remember everything else around you. Sometimes when you put the screens down and take a moment to look around, you do realize there is more to life than just scrolling your feed for 15 hours a day. It's been a wonderful choice I've made.

Phew, okay. That was a lot to get out. Should we talk about running? We haven't since I finished my ultra. The good news is that I'm still doing it. I took a week off after my race and just did yoga every day. My body felt fully recovered probably 2 days after but it's good to have that reset period. My coach had me start back up with some light work and cycling. I told her I wanted to incorporate more cycling into my training since I've really enjoyed it and it's really been a great help to my cardiac fitness and endurance. The NordiTrack is still amazing. One day I'll have a road bike but until then, I'm enjoying rides all over the world. Last week I rode in Tokyo. Tomorrow I'll hit up Colorado. My first attack was the McKirdy Mile. I wasn't setting big expectations on my time since I had only run twice and was only two weeks post-race.

Yeah, needless to say, I was quite surprised when I looked down after I hit the 1-mile mark. I told my coach that I'd be happy with an 8:30, even an 8:15. It was a great accomplishment. It also lit a fire under me wanting to work more towards becoming more efficient. Becoming faster is one thing but doing it in the most efficient way is important. I started looking at races coming up for the fall and winter. To be honest, I am not comfortable being around people and I highly doubt that will subside for the rest of the year. Sure, maybe I'm being too cautious but it only takes one person. I'm okay with riding the virtual race train for a bit. I registered for the SeaWheeze virtual half marathon and will attempt that in August. I guess you could say I'm currently in week 2 of training for that and my coach just started implementing speedwork in today. Have I mentioned how thankful I am for her? Because I am. 

Let's see if I keep up with an actual consistent schedule with this thing again. I'm trying to play around with the layout again since I got bored with the purple. I want it to look cleaner. I'm kind of OCD when it comes to graphic design. What can ya do? I hope you all stay safe. Stand up for yourself. Be grateful for what you have and pray.

Ultra Dreams

"You've been out here for quite some time!" my neighbor yelled as I turned the corner, coming in front of her home.  She continued on to say, "You were out here when I left for work!" She leaves for work at 7:30am. It was now 11:00am. She walks dogs. "Yeah! I'm doing a race today!", I replied. "Where at?" she asked. "Right here. I'll be out here until 7:00pm." After I said that, I glanced down at my Garmin to check the countdown. There was still 8 hours left.

12 hours is a long time to be on your feet, let me tell you. I knew I wanted to complete an ultra one day, I just wasn't sure which one would be first. Last year, after reading my friend Rob's book, Training For Ultra, and spectating Javelina Jundred, it was time. I signed up for Hotfoot Hamster and texted my friend to put my name on the calendar to rent his decked-out Sprinter van for the race. Why sleep in a tent when you can sleep on a super comfy foam mattress inside a van? Obviously, this was all before we'd get bashed with one of the worst pandemics in history. The race ended up getting postponed to July but they gave me the option to complete it virtually, which I was all for. Obviously, you know, I ran the Mesa Marathon and felt amazing after. Not one bit of pain or soreness and then started training two weeks later for this race. I wasn't betting the same result here. I put in 10 weeks of work running roughly 5 times a week. I would do one day of speed work, some days of strides and drills, and the rest was recovery runs. I was so happy to finally be back with my coach. She really is the glue that holds me together. But enough of the training. How did the race go?

We'll start with 24 hours before the start time. I had a short run with some strides thrown in. I spent most of the day laying on the couch, doing some PT exercises whenever I'd get up. I prepped some food for my aid station, which would be in the garage. I cut up a big 'ol watermelon, cooked up some potatoes, and peeled oranges. I made some peanut butter sandwiches and put cans of coke in the fridge. I like to watch a movie that will pump me up. For some reason, The Game Changers ended up being the one. Some people would be confused by that but that documentary is just on point. (Shameless plug time: if you are an athlete or really anyone who is curious about how you can perform like a friggin' well-oiled machine on a plant-based diet, watch it. It's on Netflix for free so you have no excuse. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled recap.) My husband cooks me homemade spaghetti before all of my races so that's what was for dinner. I hit the hay around 8:00pm.

I actually slept really well. Maybe it's the fact that this race was so relaxed. I had nowhere to be except right outside of my own house. I woke up at 5:00am. Ate my typical race day oatmeal (Shalene style), drank some Nuun, and brewed some coffee. I had everything laid out the night before so I didn't have anything to do but chill. Time went by quick, though. I hopped in the shower, did my pre-run warm-up, and before I knew it, I was counting down the clock to start my attempt at my first ultra. Pressed play on my iPod Shuffle and the loops racked up. I ran on a 0.41-mile loop right in my neighborhood, passing my house every lap, which made aid easy, including the use of my own bathroom. No lines! Yay! The actual racecourse is 500 meters so I tried to keep it as true to that as I could. This just made the most sense. I tried to (remember to) change directions every hour. Clockwise was harder due to the slight incline of the street but that meant different leg muscles would get woken up every once in a while.

Now, as with most races, I had a plan of execution I would try to follow. I wanted to try and power through to a marathon, ease into a 50K, and anything after that was just bonus miles. I started very fresh as if I was just doing another long run. The heat came quick, though, and I knew I had to change my pace or I would burn out really quick. The forecast called for 97 degrees that day. I am not a heat runner. I run early in the morning when it's maybe 70 at the warmest. The sun here is much more intense, too. I would end up using about 30oz of sunscreen at the end that would give me some sweet tan lines that will probably never go away but no major burns. I think it took me as soon as mile 6 to know this would be a really long day and I would really have to fight through whatever thoughts may cross my mind of calling it quits early due to the weather. My husband was my aid station/crew chief. He had all of my food out, threw me bottles of whatever I wanted to drink, and a big bucket of ice-cold water. I'd dunk my buff and hat in it. At one point, I'd just put my whole head in. But what did I eat/drink?

Scarfing down a peanut butter sammie.

I started with some gels and energy chews, then Larabars, then needed actual food. I'd eat my peanut butter sandwiches and put potato chips in them. So salty but so good. I had some vegan ramen which actually tasted amazing. Maybe it was because, at that point, I'd take anything that would keep me going. The cold watermelon and oranges were lifesavers. What was the MVP, though? Coke. I'm not a pop (Soda if you're not from the midwest) drinker much. I love having glass bottle Mexican cola with my burritos or a Zevia every now and then but I never have it stocked up in my pantry. Today, Coke was the dream come true. Around 1:00pm, I was taking a longer break to kick my feet up for a bit. "Do you need anything else right now?" My husband asked. "I really want a cup of coffee." He ended up telling me that probably wasn't a good idea and he was probably right. I opened up what would be first of like five cans (the baby ones) of Coke I'd drink and I literally said out loud, "Holy crap, this tastes perfect!". When you don't drink or eat specific foods for a long time, they taste so much better. Later in the afternoon, I'd have some potato burritos which, for how simple they were, hit the spot. I never had issues with hydration or stomach pains. I never lost my appetite. Dean Karnazes had told me about ginger chews when we talked a few months back. They help settle a bad stomach. I ate one at some point not because I needed it, but it sounded good. I took one of my longer breaks (roughly 20 minutes) when I hit a marathon. After that, it seemed like every mile took forever to get to. It was really hot then. I changed my clothes and shoes. My husband wiped my feet off with a baby wipe and put some new socks on them. That felt so good.

Once I hit the 50K mark (31.some change), I wasn't sure what would happen after. I was so happy and astonished with myself at that point already. 31 miles is a long way to go. But what else could I add on? My coach was the only person I kept in contact with that whole day. She told me, "movement is miles, no matter how fast or slow it is" and she was right. The beauty of a fixed-time race is exactly that. Some people do try and go balls to the wall but this was my first one. I'll admit, I wanted to try and get to 50 miles but I didn't let that goal be my make or break moment. I had my A, B, and C goals. Given the weather conditions, I knew that wasn't going to happen and I was completely fine with it. I was already an ultramarathoner at that point. Nothing could make me upset. I reevaluated my love of running earlier this year and I told myself I'd never let pace or time ruin my dreams. If it happens, cool. If it doesn't, you tried and that's more important than anything.

It felt like the sun was never moving and stayed directly above me the entire time. I walked a lot after mile 31. I ended up meeting more people that lived in my neighborhood than I had ever talked to. Guess that's what happens when you're out in the middle of the day. One couple was from Michigan, too. Someone was moving into a new house down the street and as I walked by I said, "Welcome to the neighborhood!". He was from Florida. He didn't ask what I was doing but I know he was curious. I got a lot of weird looks as cars drove by. I wave at everyone. Eventually, I'd get sick of listening to music and would turn on the audiobook I was in the middle of; Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain. 35 miles would come. At this point, I had a little over an hour left. My coach said she could totally see me get to or close to 40. She was right.

My husband hopped on his bike and said, "Come on, let's get you to 40.". It was as if the second wave of energy came out of nowhere. I was running, slowly, but I was running after being on my feet for 11 hours.  Determination was fueling this. Every time my watch beeped, I was closer. 36....37....38. "I'm so close", I said out loud to myself. I wanted to allow at least 30 minutes of extra time, in case I needed it. My watch went off at 40 miles and it was almost 11 hours, 30 minutes on the dot. I had done it. I wasn't finished with the race but 40 miles was completed. I walked the rest of the way. I was so proud of myself and how far I had come that day. I also wanted the sun to go down because I was sick of being in it. It's also as if my body knew that I was almost finished because I instantly got really tired. Right at 7:00pm, my watch stopped, and I was a winner. I walked up the driveway with my arms up like Rocky Balboa.

How did I physically feel afterward? Aside from my feet being a little store, I was fine. The next day, I got out of bed, walked out to the kitchen, made coffee, and stood there, not even thinking about it. "I just ran 40 miles less than 24 hours ago. How am I not walking like a baby giraffe?". Seriously, my legs felt fresh already. I took an ice bath anyway, did some stretches and foam rolled. I ended up going for a walk. I'm seriously impressed with myself for feeling the way I do. Call me crazy but ditching meat and dairy was the best thing I have ever done for my recovery. It's been roughly three days now and my body feels completely recovered and is ready to get moving again. However, I'm a compliant athlete, and what coach says goes. I'll be hitting some yoga practices for the rest of the week and that's it.

What's next? I'm signed up for the McKirdy Mile. I had to miss the first one due to race day but will pick up with everyone else on May 16th. That mile will be pretty slow but I'll have two other chances to see what my legs can give me. I also plan to do some virtual Ironman challenges. They've been doing duathlons and I've been very interested in participating, especially since we have an indoor bike now. But what about other races? Well, I won't be registering for any proper races until we're in the pandemic clear zone, which I don't see happening for quite some time. I haven't been trail running since the virus hit because I don't want to be around people. This will probably impact my decision on running Javelina but that's quite alright. Worse case, I'll find another virtual run to crush! I honestly like running solo. I pretty much always have so it's not new for me to be alone.

Another chapter is written and successfully closed in my running career. I hope you are all still determined to crush goals even with the conditions given. It can be hard to dig into that inner motivation when we aren't traveling to races but don't let that stop you from becoming better every day.

Keep On Keeping On

Today is the beginning of week 4 of basically not leaving the house. No going to the grocery store. No going out to eat. Hell, I even just drive the car out of the garage only to put it back in after going around the block to make sure it still runs. How are we getting food if I'm not going to the store? Delivery, when it's available, which seems to be never nowadays. I pretty much order multiples of whatever I can get of the essentials: almond milk, bananas, apples, eggs for my husband. I have a plethora of chickpea cans, which has come in handy to make hummus and "egg" salad sandwich spread. We even started making our own almond butter!

 

Why I never did this to begin with blows my mind. If you have a high-powered food processor, you can do this too. Bake 3 cups of almonds at 350 for 10 minutes. Let them cool for a little, at least until they aren't hot. Throw them in and spin it around. It takes a little while to really get it to the creamy consistency so be prepared to have some patience. It's much more rich than the stuff we buy in the store, mainly because there's no oil or any other added ingredients. I probably just saved myself $20. Holla!

 

My husband is a pro Redditor and found a link to a local service who supplies food from local farms. It's like "farm to table" but to your house. Your Farm Foods has been a life saver. I revolve all of my meals around whatever vegetable I plan on cooking. Plus, to have access to different types of potatoes, onions, and even beans is awesome. I also scored two loaves of fresh baked sourdough. Makes me feel good to support the farm families and I plan to keep ordering from them even after this whole pandemic is over with. 

Okay, but what about running? It's still happening! I started week 7 of training today. The (now virtual) race is still on. The only time I leave the house is to go for a run or a walk with my lovely other half. I've pretty much stuck to the surrounding neighborhoods as much as possible with the occasional route through our little town area to say hi to the shelter cats. I haven't been on the trails in a few months now. While this would typically make me sad, I'm surprisingly okay with it. I'm okay with it because I think people are being morons and overcrowding outdoor spaces like our trails and parks. The last time I checked, being outside doesn't make you immune. You can't social distance yourself when you're on one of the most popular hikes in the Phoenix area. It's like watching the news in the summer and wondering how many people they had to airlift that day from Camelback because they didn't take any water. I saw someone post the other day basically pleading with the Phoenix government to keep the trails open because "we need them". But we really don't. They'll be there when this is all done, which won't be for a while because of non-compliance. If you ask me, you are part of the problem if you find yourself driving into a park or trailhead and decide to carry on even if other people are there. You can easily go outside of your own home and run on the road by yourself way away from other people. Some will say "well that's not what I do!". Guess what? It's time to make a new normal for the time being. Phew! As you can see, I've been a little red in the head lately about this. Social media has made me literally scream from the stories I see of people still running in groups. "Look at us social distance running together!" as they stand apart. No. Just stop. Your group can wait. Your health cannot. Flatten the freakin' curve already. /rant

Virtual racing is huge right now and it actually makes me super stoked. Some will say it's a joke and always has been. I beg to differ. It's funny because the other day I reminded myself that the first race I ever did was a virtual race and then I did another one right after that. 

If I remember correctly, this was in 2014. It was a 5K and a 10K. I remember being so proud of myself for running a 10K. Back then, I think it took me well over an hour. Little did I know I'd crush my next go round in 2017. You know what's awesome about virtual racing? Lots of things. You can wake up whenever you want to. You have your own private bathroom (depending on where you run), no getting on a bus, no drop bag issues, no crowds, no getting annoyed at that one person you knew lied about their pace to start earlier. I actually would love to do more virtual races in the future. I think it still gives those something to work towards. I know many need the atmosphere of cheering crowds, crossing the timing block, going through the finisher chute, but I guess I've come to be grateful for whatever, at this point. I'm about to run for 12 hours around my block. Is this what I wanted for my first ultra? No. Am I not going to take it seriously because I think it's "not really a race"? NO. It is a real race and we're really doing the damn thing. All I want to say is, keep on keeping on. Run as if virtual races were now all that we had offered to us until forever. Create your own atmosphere of encouragement. I told my coach today that I'm falling back in love with road running. Back in February, I told myself I was so over this. That would be my last road marathon. Never again. Yet, here we are, in a situation none of us could have predicted. I've become grateful that I have two feet that can carry me for miles. I appreciate the open road. I have new goals that are getting fired up in my brain that don't involve trails or ultras. Guess I'm going back on my word. A new pair of Hoka One One Clifton 6's showed up today. Guess that means more road miles. Guess that means I'm still making myself feel like a champion no matter what the future brings.

"Never give up something you can't go a day without thinking about." - Winston Churchill

Ready, set, go!

The two weeks following the Mesa Marathon actually went fairly quickly. When you throw in a little vacation in there, it really helps you not go stir crazy from laying low and not doing any activity. I did my daily yoga practices, kept my body pretty mobile, and felt pretty dang amazing. I'm still kind of shocked at how good I felt after the race. My body doesn't hate me after all!

We'll touch base real quick on that lull time. We went to California for a week for my husband's birthday getaway. We're only around 2.5 hours from the border of the state which still blows my mind. It seemed so far away when we lived in Michigan BECAUSE IT WAS. I honestly hate traveling to California, mainly if we're headed to the Los Angeles area. Everyone drives like a crazy person and traffic sucks 24/7. We drove somewhere that was only 6 miles away and it took us over 30 minutes. So we stayed in Universal City for a few days and visited Universal Studios. Neither of us had been there before and I'm a big Harry Potter nut so I was pretty jazzed on the idea. Hold for photos:

 

 

The first stop was Voodoo Donuts. Now, this isn't the original location but it was as close to them as we could get for the day. Their vegan donut selection is LEGIT and they actually taste super good. We ended up there the next morning as well. Then we explored the park. We saved most of the Wizarding World for the second day. The studio tour was my favorite attraction. The Minions ride was super cute and fun. I could give you a review on everything else but I'll save you the time. Harry Potter world or whatever you want to call it was great. They did a fantastic job on Hogwarts. Overall, I definitely like Disney a heck of a lot better than Universal. Disney just knows how to do it up and create an overall amazing experience for their guests. Would I go back to Universal? Probably not. We headed to Ventura for the rest of the week and visited Ojai, which is an awesome little town. I would definitely go back there. We hung out a local vineyard for a bit (Old Creek Ranch). It was such a cool place. We headed home that Friday and then came time to snap back to reality, Eminem style.

The one announcement I'm super excited to say is that I'm back with my coach, Kristen Griffin, of Find Your Stride Coaching. Kristen has been such a great help to me in the past and I missed working with her so much. She's an amazing athlete herself but also an incredible mom and wife. I think she was equally as excited as I was when I messaged her and told her the news. Week one started on February 24th. Since then it's been base building. Slow-paced runs to get the legs turning. I program my Garmin for the length of time I should be out as well as what pace range I should stay in. While I am not a fast runner by any means, I have a hard time staying in that recovery pace area. It helps to have that thing yell at me to keep within my limits. Remember when I said I felt amazing after my marathon? My first day of training included a 2-mile time trial and boy were my glutes sore the next day but that definitely means the activation is there. The first week went by great. It took me a few days to get into the groove of that recovery pace but it set in about midweek. I told Kristen to make sure I kept up on my PT exercises and keep me out of therapy. I'm a huge advocate for physical therapy, as it's helped me tremendously, but I will do whatever it takes to keep myself injury-free. I do my exercises EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. This is non-negotiable. I do a big dynamic warmup before every run and do a stretching routine after. Most people say they "don't have time" and skip this but let me tell you, you can take as little as five minutes to do something that will help. A little goes a long way. Your body won't stay in tip-top shape forever. Save yourself now before you can't turn those legs anymore. *steps off soapbox*

The one thing I didn't really line up properly was the fact that I had forgotten I signed up for a local race. If you remember, last year I ran the Mountain 2 Fountain 5K as a "comeback race" after nursing an injury. It was awful and I said I'd never run it again. Well, here's my finisher's medal.

I should preface I did this for my Volée team. This time, I signed up for the 15K, which made us eligible to win our weight in beer. You need a team of at least four people to qualify for this and finish in under 2 hours. While we ended up not having a full team, it was nice to meet up with two of my fellow members and hang out for a bit. The race was basically a fun run for me. The hills hit hard as I had not run any in two weeks. I don't understand why they don't close the road down for this race from the point you leave the park to where you enter back into town. Running the majority of it on the shoulder of a road which is essentially two feet wide is uncomfortable. The road slightly slants at parts to allow rain to run off. Needless to say, my right ankle got a workout. I did finish pain-free, which is all I ever want nowadays. One of my teammates and I determined we won't run this race again and I actually mean it this time. I think the organizational skills of whoever runs it nowadays is way out to sea and they cut costs in areas they shouldn't. Don't advertise there will be Nuun on the course when in fact, there wasn't. I carried my own water and Nuun in my vest but many runners didn't. Last year, I spectated after I ran my race and many runners were dying because they had run out of water. Anyway, I won't rant too much. It's over! We had amazing weather. I got to hang with two amazing ladies. The end.

Okay, I think that's the best update I can give you right now from the past few weeks into week one of training. Unrelated but I hope to get back to recipe sharing soon. I have a few new things on my list to cook so we'll see if they make the cut!