Sad Day for the Running Peoples

Kevin and I visited with Kayla, Terrell, Brian, Trina, and Seth this weekend. We all went on a run on Saturday (minus pregnant Kayla, of course). Kevin and I did an 11-miler (whooo, that was humid and hot, but a lot of fun). Sad news: Trina, the fearless leader this summer, has hurt her achilles tendon and may not be able to make it to the half. We're praying for her right now!

Refried Go Power

Yesterday was the third day that Kevin, Seth, and myself have been eating off of a big pot of cooked beans (that's not all we've been eating, that's just a side that's lasting a long bit of time). It's got a mix of pinto, black, kidney, and red. Kevin cooked it up on Monday so yesterday I turned it into refried. Most recipes for refried call for like four cups of cooked beans and two cups of oil. Yuck! I've modified the recipe to where it's got like two cups of water and a table soon of oil (kind of like mashed potatoes). Way better.

Anyway, that's one of the carbs we've been running on lately. Yesterday, we took off toward campus around 8pm or so and played a little three-person football. I've come to realize that I need to work on two things in order to become the next Dallas Cowboy rookie of the year:

1. I need to work on acceleration and speed. I lose Kevin and Seth in about the first 3 seconds the ball is loose and it kind of looks like I'm not even trying hard; might as well just stand still and sacrafice the body with a good tackle...then die after a after short life.
2. I need to be able throw the ball farther than 12 yards...and do that accurately.

So, although I had a lot of fun running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, maybe pro football is not for me.

I'll always have the beans.

After sprinting around a bit, we came back to the house, I made refried for the next day, and then I went on a two mile run (see my time to the right). I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't sped up since I've been training for the half this summer (even by an average of 10 seconds would be great, please?!!). But I've come to realize that those large leaps of improvement only happen once a year. I had a leap around December-January where I started runing very long distances easily under 11 minutes per mile, so I'm not yet due for one.

But I'm having fun. "Run on" allergy peoples!

Long Road to the Marathon

So I've been blogging off and on for a while this summer (can you blame me? it's summer!!!). I apologize! But for a while now I've been working hard at training for various races and the upcoming big two (the half marathon and the full) and it's been consuming my creative energy. Also, I've been avoiding blogging because I haven't really been thinking a whole bunch about food lately (trying not to so that I can loose a few pounds for the races). But just now I thought "Hey, this is my blog! I can do what I please! I don't have to always talk about food!" So I'll be blogging a lot about my training for the next two to three month and if food comes up, which I'm sure it will, then I'll talk about it. Sound good? Good!

So last weekend Kayla and Terrell witnessed our pain in the local sprint triathlon (300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run). I killed on the bike with my best time yet of 16 mph (even though we've gone biking only like 3 or 4 times prior to the race), which totally supports my husband's belief that I'm more of a natural biker than a runner. The swim would have gone a little better if I had remembered to take off my watch before hand and if I had put my goggles on before the horn. Needless to say, my mind was not in the right place for the open water swim and I was hyperventilating for about 1/3 of the distance. Then I just held on for the run at about a 10:30 or so pace. A triathlon is just such an interesting experience, lots of transitions, multiple sports, we have to do one at least every summer.

So now were ramping up for the big half marathon with the rest of the family. At this point, I've counted 7 people from Kevin's side of the family will either be running the 10K or the half marathon in August. All because little Trina wanted to run this summer. Crazy!

So this past weekend was our second long run in the training for this race. We went out to the favorite hilly country road and started running at about 7:15. Ran 9 miles in an 11:02 pace. Boy it was hot for the last half. I'm pretty sure it was at least in the mid 80s but the humidity was pretty high so it felt hotter.

Last night, Kevin's cousin Seth went with us on a 4 mile neighborhood run. It's always nice and cool around 10 pm, so I went a little bit faster and ran a 43:17 or a 10:49 minute per mile pace. I'm not quite up to par with what I did for my last half in January, but that's pretty much a given considering it's summer time and I'm a couple of pounds heavier from eating all those gluten-free, carb-filled, rice-based, ready-made foods I discovered all spring semester (mmmm...gluten free, 120 calorie for two oreo cookies!!!! Yummm!!!!). Anyway, it was really fun to run in a pack. We don't do that too often, mainly because Kevin runs at the speed of light, and it's not very convenient to find someone who's available and at your same speed for every run.

Also on the running front, Kevin and I bought these reflective running bands for our ankles at Academy sports for about $5. They seem to work really great for our late night runs and I feel a little more confident about not getting run over. That's always nice.

So that's about it. I might blog more often now that I've come up with a new strategy. And no need to fear! I'll come back to blog about food and recipes more often after the ordeal is over.

In the words of my boss with some minor modifications, "Run on" allergy peoples!

The Whole Foods Mother Ship

I went to Austin this past weekend to visit the folks and we hit the gluten free, milk free, yada yada mother load! We picked up waffles, goat cheese, Oreo-type cookies, and bagels!!! I'll post pictures next week.

Season Training is Here!

So here's my lofty set of goals for this year. The upcoming races I plan to attend are:

• Lake Nasworthy Triathlon (July)
• Dallas Half Marathon (August)
• American Heart Run 3M (September or October)
• Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (November)
• Turkey Trot 3M (November)

The main goal is the Marathon (my first), so if I don't make it to the other two, then that's okay by me. I'm going to take it really easy and just increase my running distance by a mile ever week or every other week (this weekend I'll run 8).

Crazy? Maybe. But there's no time like the present. I don't particularly want to train for another half marathon because I kind of feel like I've already done that and I don't relish the idea of trying to beat my old time (that's so tough, mentally). I really like the goal of "let's just finish." Yes. Yes, I do.

So, beyond the miles, here's a few things that I'm planning to do this summer. This comes from my experience from my previous half marathon and a four-mile run I had this weekend.

• Buy reflective tape/attachments. I'm going to have to do a lot of running after the sun goes down and before it comes up to beat the Texas heat and I don't want to get run over. This weekend, Kevin and I will probably go to Academy or Wal-mart and see what's available. Whatever we get has to be light, easy to attach, and add no additional clothing that my cause us to pass out from heat exhaustion.
• Don't eat chips before a run. So I love to have my corn days on running days, but that presents a problem when the salt content leaves me with dry mouth and my tail hangs a little lower like Kent and Kaiya's after they've been run down. I'll either need to start using my rice days or other carb day for the run -OR- wait to eat the chips after the run (so hard to do when I'm running at 9 pm!).
• Wear head bands, not clips. Since I've got bangs now (thanks Kayla!!), I've gotten a little fussy about the hair on runs. I like them, no doubt. But I'm sure I look like I'm slapping myself for motivation rather than moving hair out of the way. I tried clips this weekend, but that's not cuttin' it with my blow-away hair. So, it's back to the rubberized head band from college. Hopefully I won't loose this one. :)
• Drinking water/sports drink no matter how long the run. It's hot and I can't get away with running a three miler without my water belt right now while my body is adjusting to the heat. Maybe later in the summer, but not right now. I'm going to go easy.
• If I start to hurt too much, I'll back off on the miles. I can say that the Marathon is my goal for this year, but if I feel like it's too soon. That's okay. I'll just meet some of the other goal races on my list, and then see if I can't run a full another year. No big deal. No pressure.
• New music. While I was training for my half, I started out with music from our own collection (you know, up beat stuff like U2). When I heard that music enough, I added a different selection after going through our less used collection. When I heard that music enough, then I went to the radio and used that mostly throughout the training. But radio stations put their music selection on a loop, so the longer I'm out on a run the more often I'll hear that whole loop, and that makes me think about how long I've been out there. That's no fun. So I'll need to do some re-thinking about the music.

Hopefully I'll be running injury free here and it will all be a matter of sheer will power.

Vacation Trout!

Ah! Vacation was great. Hiked, ran, fished, ate, slept, and vegged with my husband and two silly dogs. Yeah! Glad to be back, though. I was having some problems with the dry climate (dry hands, nose bleeds) and the pine trees were pollinating big time (caked up our car's windshield every day). Kevin and I caught eight trout while we were away and we froze them in water so that we can have a couple of meals off them over the next few weeks. We'll probably be frying them up in Katherine's famous corn meal batter (see below).

Egg Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free Fried Trout

Filleted Trout (scale free, please; you could also use talapia or catfish instead)
Corn Meal
1 Large Paper or Plastic plate
Salt
Pepper
Corn Oil
Small glass of water
Large Frying Pan

Since we freeze our fish in Ziploc bags filled with water, the un-freezing is the most time consuming but also the least labor intensive. Just rinse one side of the sink, add a drain stopper, pour in warm water from the tap, add the frozen fish, and about ten minutes later, POW! Defrosted fish!

Then it's time to take the fish and press them into the dry batter mix on the paper plate. Since the fish is wet, it'll hold most of the ingredients while it's frying. I generally eyeball the batter ingredients. I just make sure that I have enough corn meal on the paper plate to cover all sides of each of my fillet's (it's so annoying to have to wash my fishy hands to make more batter). I mix the pepper and salt with the corn meal on the plate before I cover the fish.

Next, I add about a teaspoon or two of corn oil to the pan, lay the fish in flat, and turn the heat to medium. I generally add a drop or two of water to the pan throughout the frying process to keep the fish from burning. The corn meal tends to soak up the oil underneath quickly and I'd rather add water than more oil to combat the burn. I usually flip the fish to cook on the other side when the majority of the fish has turned either white or grey (just push aside a little of the corn meal to test). If I wait until the entire fish is white, then it's harder to flip (crumbles).

Enjoy!

On Vacation!

Back to blog June 17.