Training Tuesdays: 08.23.11.

OOH-RAH! 20 MILES!

This run felt great. I was even able to sprint out the last quarter mile with one of the coaches. Not my regular pace coach - he would surely have yelled at me for that. Even though my quads were screaming, it was fantastic to have the energy at the end of the run to finish strong. The coach I ran the last 10 miles with mentioned running these longest of the long runs at GAD pace - Go All Day pace. Being out on the trail for so long will improve endurance and prepare you for the marathon. Sometimes I feel like I am training at such a slow pace, and I wonder if I will be able to run the race at the faster pace I envisioned. I think I might be able to, but right now I am trying to balance my enjoyment of the day with my ideal time goal.

When I was training for my last marathon, I had a disastrous 20-miler. To make matters worse, it was our only 20-miler of the training schedule and it was three weeks before the marathon. When I started this marathon training program, I was concerned about the high weekly mileage and number of long long runs, including three 20-milers. Now, I realize that doing so many very long runs will make me feel comfortable and confident in my ability to complete the marathon. Even if one of my other 20s go terribly wrong, I can look back on this run and know that I am capable of doing the distance.

Since running 20 miles at a time and over 40 miles in one week allows someone the right to eat anything they damn well please, this is also a great time to talk about post-run nutrition. This is my go-to post-run meal (although I switched it up slightly this week):

I usually drink a big glass of ice-cold chocolate milk, which studies have found to be an excellent recovery drink because it contains a good balance of protein, carbs and fat. I drink it because it's chocolate milk and chocolate milk is awesome. I usually grab a cup of Greek yogurt with honey (more protein and carbs) and a bowl of cereal. This week, we broke in our new blender with some smoothies. I threw in some frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, a banana, vanilla soy milk, flaxseed and OJ. Yum. I'm hooked.

Enough talk of food (this may be the one and only time I ever say that), this is  my running schedule for this week:

Wearing: To Work (Part 1).

This past week, I felt the first crisp in the morning air, reminding me that autumn will be here before I know it. And I'm okay with that. I love autumn. Falling leaves. College football. Sweaters. This time of year also reminds me of starting the new academic year. And back-to-school shopping. I always loved looking for both new clothes and new school supplies.

So since I am starting my new job tomorrow, and in the tradition of back-to-school shopping, I've put together inspiration boards of my favorite (back-to-)work items. For late-summer and early-fall, I am loving blouses and cropped pants with heels. Here are some work-appropriate outfits I created out of stores' new arrivals for fall.

tops: Asos, Zara, Asos, Zara
trousers: J. Crew, J. Crew, Asos, Asos (similar)
heels: Ann Taylor, Zara, Ralph Lauren, H&M

Happy Weekend: 90 Years.

How do you sum up the life of an incredible woman, mother, grandmother, and friend in 15 minutes? It's impossible. But I did my best to show the incredible impact my Bobchi has had on the lives of everyone who knows her. This project also gave me the opportunity to marvel in hundreds and hundreds of family photographs, some from the 1920s, some from this past summer.

Today.

Today, I'm feeling a little like Charles looks in this webcam picture I took yesterday - sleepy, relaxed and not moving all too fast (or at all).

I have some ideas for blog posts, but something getting posted will depend on when or whether or not I:

1. get my laundry done
2. unpack from vacation
3. finish the current chapter in my library book
4. meal plan for next week and make a grocery shopping list
5. get to Target to buy toilet paper (and $200 in other items I don't need or intend to purchase - stationery, a new top, nail polish, a blender, etc.)
6. check off the other 20 items on my to do list

Wanted: Blue Velvet Sofa.

A few months ago, I was furniture shopping with a friend who is redecorating her living room, when we saw this:

And it stopped us in our tracks. Both of us stood in the doorway of the store, slack-jawed, staring at this beautiful sofa. My friend jolted me out of my daze when she mumbled, "I want to swim in that sofa."

These pictures clearly don't do it justice. It is a beautiful, sleek, blue velvet sofa. The blue isn't too deep, isn't too bright, is almost cobalt, but a little more navy than cobalt. It is perfect. I dream of this sofa in my living room. And I dream of this sofa in the living room of the house or condo I hope to one day own. In my dreams, I would pair it with either the classic Eames recliner or this gorgeous, butterscotch-colored, leather chair and ottoman (or both). While we're at it, I'd also add this reclaimed wood and iron coffee table from Home Decorators Collection and some inky, hand-blocked pillows from West Elm.

Training Tuesdays: 08.16.11.

Ugh. This is what last week's training schedule ended up looking like:

After slogging through 11 total miles in the Florida heat and humidity, and feeling, if not great, then at least okay, I got taken out by a nasty sinus infection. I woke up on Friday morning with a screaming sore throat (and skipped my planned 7-miler) and just got worse and worse and worse over the weekend. I hung in there for our 6:30am flight back north on Saturday, but started dying a little in the two hour car ride into Pennsylvania to pick the Charlie up from my parents/dogsitters. In a bout of frustration, discomfort and pain, I made the excellent decision to take a generic Nyquil-type drug purchased at a Love's truck stop, then spent the next 16 hours hallucinating in a drug-induced coma. I woke up at 5:30am Sunday, thinking that it would be about the time I would be getting ready for my long run, which this week was starting at the Metro station next to where I live. At 6:35, I started hearing noise outside, and walked to our deck to see the pace groups running down my street, only a few hundred feet into an 18-miler. I was bummed. But I was also congested, nauseous and woozy from the last traces of truck stop Nyquil. I stretched out on the couch, read a book until I fell back asleep, and felt fine about missing the run.

Today, I am feeling much much better. Still not 100%, but good enough to try to get a little jog in. I put in a total of six miles, five running, on the treadmill this morning: 2.5 miles at 10:40 pace, 0.5 mile walking, 2.5 at 10:30 pace, 0.5 walking. It didn't feel great, but I'm happy to have done it. I'm hoping I'll be well enough to continue with my planned weekly training schedule. Which is:

Since I've been feeling less than stellar, I'm going to save any talk of food and post-run nutrition for next week. For now, I'm going to go snug up on the couch with a good library book.

Week(end)s Recap: Birthdays & Beach Days.

These last ten days have been all about family. An ideal way to spend the end of summer, if you ask me.

Two weekends ago, we took a short trip up to New Jersey to celebrate my Bobchi's 90th birthday. We threw her a surprise party with all her friends. She was sure surprised. About an hour into the party, her (octogenarian) baby brother also showed up. I love her reaction to seeing him walk through the door.

My aunt made her an incredible topsy-turvy cake decorated with all the things she loves: flowers, cards, birds, baseballs, and the initials of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchild.

My niece was the life of the party and entertained my grandmother's friends all afternoon.

Right after our weekend in New Jersey, we caught a plane to Florida for some more family time, this time with my in-laws. It had been over nine months since we had last seen my husband's family, and these five days together were just what we needed.

We stayed in this beautiful beach-front house in Carillon Beach.

Drank our morning coffee while delighting in this view.

Spent plenty of time enjoying each others' company, eating family dinners, assembling puzzles, and battling undertow together.

At the end of every day, we would sit on our back porch, watch the sun set over the ocean, and think about how lucky we are to have each other