Boulder Spring Half

Hello!

I had a great weekend where I ended up bagging 23 miles total, including a 16 miler. That makes for the longest long run that I've done since Grandma's Marathon last June. All of this inspired me to finally sign up for the half marathon that I've been working towards. It is the Boulder Spring Half.

I'm very excited to finally run a race again. When it comes to long runs, I'll definitely be okay. Of course I did the 16 miler today and plan to do one more 16 and a 17 miler before the race. However, my overall run volume and speed work leave something to be desired. Since today was the last day of Febulous (the MarathonTalk competition), I signed up for Marchvellous. For Marchvellous, participants must choose a race distance and an estimated finish time. I chose 1:51:00 for a PR of 40ish seconds. I think that is possible. It may seem a bit strange to shoot for a PR at altitude on questionable training. However, I think my half PR is a bit soft. It's actually from a half I did two weeks before the Lakefront Marathon, so it really wasn't a race effort. It'll be great to finally get out there and really go for it for the first time in a long time.

Happy Running!
Jen

My first encounter with the Green Monster...

Wow...I really thought that I had blogged in December! I guess not...

To catch up: I survived my first semester of grad school and got a 4.0 instead of flunking out. Whew. So far this semester I'm much less stressed and tired. I also found a great dirt and gravel running path. I am planning on running a half marathon here in Boulder at the end of March, although I have yet to sign up for it. I hope to run the Steamboat Marathon in June, but since I don't know if I'll be here for the summer (an internship may take me elsewhere), that is all still up in the air.

Regarding the Green Monster: I don't mean Fenway or some sort of mountain creature. I am referring to the spinach-based smoothie that has become quite popular among running and fitness bloggers and podcasters lately. Spinach, I know...as much as I love it, I couldn't really see it in a smoothie. But, it's actually quite good. I made my first Green Monster smoothie after my 12-miler today. Recipes vary, but this is what I did.

Green Monster

2 cups spinach

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1.25 cups almond milk

1 banana

1/2 TBSP flaxseed

1 serving Spirutein vanilla protein powder

3 ice cubes

Put everything in the blender and blend baby blend!

Admittedly it looks a bit strange, especially because the blueberry skins create black specks in the smoothie. When I poured it into a glass, Joe said, "What are you torturing yourself with?". But, it is actually very good, not to mention nutritious. I'm not typically a fan of protein shakes or powders, but I picked up a single serving package at Natural Grocers yesterday and it seemed like a good post-run recovery drink.

It looked like this.

I had a great run today as well. There is really nothing like being able to run in shorts at the end of January with a view of the Rockies the entire way.

Happy Running!

Jen

Winter Wardrobe Two for One

Hi!

Two very different running workouts for two very different days.

Yesterday:
Same outfit as the previous day (shorts, long sleeved wicking shirt, thin gloves) plus a hat this time. The weather was great and I was comfortable even though I had to stop for some potty breaks (Butler, not me!). I was even warm enough to push up the sleeves. It was 39 degrees Fahrenheit and 32 degrees with windchill.

Today:
Cold and windy! I had on my Under Armour running tights, long sleeved wicking shirt from the Lakefront Marathon, burgundy running jacket, thicker mittens and a hat. The first mile was a bit tough just remembering what winter running is all about and getting warmed up. After that, it wasn't bad at all. The temperature was 19 degrees Fahrenheit or 5 degrees with the windchill factored in.

Jen

Winter Running Wardrobe

Hi!

Every year when it starts to get cold again, I don't remember how to properly dress for various temperatures. This year is the same-old-same-old, although compared to Wisconsin it's stayed warmer later. So, I decided to start keeping track of my running wardrobe on the blog.

Tonight is was 35 degrees Fahrenheit with a "Feels Like" (factoring in windchill) temperature of 28 degrees. It was sort of windy. I wore shorts, my long sleeve wicking shirt from the St. Louis Marathon and thin gloves. I would have worn a hat, but I forgot it. I was chilly at first, but overall the apparel choices were good. I did get a bit of a brain freeze due to the lack of hat, but other than that it was fine.

Jen

Vegan Experiment: Over

Hi!

So, the vegan experiment lasted a few days left than I had hoped. On Thursday I had a physiology midterm, three more classes and a meeting to work on a physiology project. I sort of developed a habit of getting a mocha before seminar on Thursdays to keep me alert. I caved and had one this week. It gave me a HORRIBLE stomach ache, so I guess that's what I deserved!

While I definitely don't plan to become a vegan, there were some definite positive points.

Positives:
-I definitely had to add more veggies to meals to get something really flavorful. Sometimes I think cheese acts as a crutch in this way.
-Most of my meals did end up really healthy.
-Obviously the carbon footprint of my meals for the 10 days was improved.

Negatives:
-I didn't necessarily feel any better than normal and one dish I made really upset my stomach.
-I was still eating some junky, process stuff like pretzels.
-Most chocolate includes dairy. Enough said!

I'll definitely be including a lot of vegan meals in the future, although I'm happy to have dairy back in my life for now. Especially since Thanksgiving is next week!

Jen

Winter is here!

Hi!

So it seems that winter has finally arrived in Boulder. It finally actually got cold out and I'm kind of surprised at the amount of complaining that I've heard. Seriously people-it's November and there have been about three days so far where I've really needed a coat. These are people that probably have some sort of crazy hobby like cliff diving and yet they are troubled by temperatures below 40 degrees F. The temperature drop was pretty sudden though, and that probably contributes to everyone's unhappiness about it. We also set the clocks back last week and now it is dark so early. I can take the cold, but the darkness...ugh.

I actually had to pull out the tights for two runs this week. Today, however, was about 40 degrees midday and so I got to wear shorts again. Probably about 30 degrees F is my shorts to tights/pants transition point. The two runs this week were borderline. I was a bit overdressed, but I probably would have been chilly in shorts.

I got an exam back this week that I did very well on (well above the average) so that kind of made my week. Of course, my fluid mechanics exam last week was a different story, but anyway...

I missed running Tuesday and Wednesday this week due to fatigue, school and some amount of laziness. I had a great run this morning though and have high hopes for a decent "long" run tomorrow. I need to figure out a better long run path here. One of my favorite paths here is great in a lot of ways, but it runs out at about 3.5 miles. I prefer to be able to run half of the total distance out and then just turn around.

I'd like to run a winter half, but so far I haven't had any luck finding a local one. This seems a bit hard to believe, so hopefully something will pop up.

I only have a few more week of this semester and I am so looking forward to it being over. Winter break here I come!

Happy Running!

Jen

Vegan Experiment

Hi!

I'm not a vegetarian, but I do eat vegetarian most of the time. This is for a few reasons. Probably the number one reason is that I'm just not a huge meat fan. The second reason is that meat is sort of expensive. Especially the free-range, organic, etc. meat that I'm actually tempted to eat. Third, my carbon footprint is greatly reduced by not eating meat. I've never wanted to strictly be a vegetarian though, because that becomes a hassle when having dinner at other people's houses, weddings, etc., and because I'm not actually opposed to eating meat so I don't see a need to be restrictive.

I recently started using almond milk in place of regular milk. I had seen it in the store for weeks, but I was afraid to try it because it was only available in 1/2 gallon containers and had the potential to be awful. Finally I risked wasting the $3 and went for it. Turns out that it is delicious! Since I no longer needed regular milk for my oats, it got me thinking about veganism. There are quite a few vegans in the running community and in Boulder in particular (for anyone who wasn't aware, Boulder is pretty hippied out). So, I'm giving it a try for a few weeks. I mostly just want to see what it's like to eat this way. It also better environmentally, which is nice because the local produce will be dying out soon and thus my fruits and veggies will be shipped in from who knows where. Of course, if I like it and am feeling good, maybe it'll stick, although I'll never really be a true vegan or vegetarian. I am from the dairy state afterall, and let's face it: cheese is delicious!

I hope to keep this up strictly for at least two weeks. Hopefully I'm not singing a different tune tomorrow, lol.

Happy Eating and Running!

Jen