Burgers and miles

When I’m running this much, I pretty much eat whatever I want. I’m generally a pretty healthy eater, but I definitely won’t say no to to a steak sandwich, a burger, or some Ben & Jerry’s. That being said, sometimes I recognize the need to eat a little cleaner. This past weekend, I had a little veggie burger dinner party at my apartment. My guest doesn’t normally eat veggie burgers, so I wasn’t sure how successful dinner was going to be, but Lightlife’s garden veggie patties passed the test! The final verdict from the non-vegetarian: “I would definitely eat the rest of the box.” Do they taste exactly like a hamburger? Well, no, but I respect that. When I eat a veggie burger…I want it to taste like vegetables and grains, not meat. I really liked that these patties were a little bigger than what I expected from a veggie burger. When I have a 20-miler planned for the next day, the last thing I want is to finish dinner and still be hungry.

On the menu:

I tried to make this dinner as sustainable as possible by using real dishes (no paper plates) and earth-friendly paper napkins (maybe next time I’ll try cloth). Even the music was “recycled” – we listened to the 1970’s Motown Dance Party playlist while we ate. I liked this dinner a lot. But let’s be honest…I love anything that’s a vehicle for ketchup and mayonnaise.

In other news, I ran the Philly Rock ‘n Roll half with mixed results. It was no PR, but the time was about what I expected. I trained through the race (no taper), so my legs weren’t exactly fresh. Walking around Philly + burger and beer for dinner might not have been the best race prep, but while running is important to me…it’s not the only thing that’s important to me. I try to keep that in mind as I go through every training cycle. I know what needs to get done: long runs, workouts, getting enough sleep, but I also want to make sure that I’m still enjoying life and spending time with the people I care about. Sometimes that means a few less miles or a less than ideal pre-race dinner, but I’m 100% okay with that. I don’t have anything too remarkable to say about Philly…I started out conservatively, picked it up after 5 miles, and pretty much held on from there. I would have loved to finish up with some sub-7:00 miles, but that just wasn’t in the cards. I think this was a result of few different factors: my head wasn’t completely in the game for this race, my legs were fatigued from the miles I’ve been putting in, and from a fitness perspective…I’m a bit behind where I was last year. I was feeling a bit disappointed in this year’s time, but I have to remember that I’ve really only been training for 6 weeks or so. I was running 35 miles a week by the end of July (with no workouts)…I’ve doubled my mileage and stepped up my workout game since then, but fitness gains take time. Hopefully I’ll see a noticeable difference 6 weeks from now, you know, on marathon day (!).

The best parts of the Philly weekend? 1) I did not miss the finish line and 2) I had a Dairy Queen blizzard (there are no NYC locations, fyi).

Do you think this photo is copyrighted or something? Heh.

Besides the race, it’s been a pretty solid 2 weeks of training. Last week I hit 70 miles for the first time since March and managed to finish a tempo and a 20-miler. I’m not going to say my legs feel fresh, but I think they’re absorbing the mileage better than they were just a few weeks ago. I’m really glad I was able to do a 20-miler without too much struggle. I intended on running my first 20 a few weeks ago, but I felt TERRIBLE and ended up only running 17. Meh. The plan is to hover around 70 mpw for a bit, max out around 80 miles, and then finish up with a 3 week taper. You can see my training schedule on google docs (note: it’s constantly being revised depending on how I feel, my schedule, etc).

  • Monday, Sept 17 – 7 miles
  • Tuesday, Sept 18 – 7 miles
  • Wednesday, Sept 19 – 10.5 miles
  • Thursday, Sept 20 – 6 miles a.m., 8.5 miles p.m. including 10k tempo in 44:50.
  • Friday, Sept 21 – 6 miles
  • Saturday, Sept 22 – 5 miles
  • Sunday, Sept 23 – 20 miles
  • Total: 70 miles

Also, surprise! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my last day of work. I’m starting a new job on October 1. Ahhh. Apparently 2012 is the year of changes. Needless to say, this last month has been a little nuts.

This has nothing to do with running, but….I’d like to know – what do you think is the best use for ketchup or mayonnaise?


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