Road Trip Recap Part 3- Vermont

We left NH and headed off to Vermont to spend the next few days with Alex's parents. After visiting with them for a bit, we headed to Massachusetts to spend the night with Alex's brother and sister-in-law!

It was about a 2.5 hour drive to VT from Maine and then about a 2 hour drive to MA. We spent the night eating a fantastic barbecue dinner with chicken and corn-on-the-cob and playing some yard games! We left their house the next morning around 10 to get back to Vermont to spend time with Alex's parents. 

First stop back in Vermont- THE VERMONT COUNTRY STORE! This was my first time visiting and this store is amazing- everything you have ever thought New England was/is wrapped up in one place. 

They had a food truck outside and we had one of the most fantastic burgers ever. After shopping around (they also have a ton of free food samples inside, so I definitely recommend coming hungry) for a bit, we couldn't resist getting a black raspberry ice cream to share!

They were also having a tent sale when we arrived (I think it is still going on through the month of July) and I scored a beautifully knit Woolrich sweater for less than $20! 

We also couldn't resist not getting a kissing photo in the Kissing Bridge!

His parents live in a small southern Vermont town called Springfield, which is REALLY cute and you should definitely go visit! We went to the Hartness House for dinner that night (they were having live music- we made a reservation) and Alex & I split their Cheddar Cheese Potatoes & Fig Balsamic Pizza! The pizza was to.die.for. 

On Friday, we headed out bright and early to go for a hike up Mt. Ascutney. We drove up most of the mountain and it was a 1.5 mile hike up to the fire tower, where you had a fantastic 360 degree view of all the surrounding mountains (even Mt. Washington)!

We made the hike a full loop by taking the Hang glider trail on the way back (which is totally tree covered and we could never see how any hang-glider could get through the thick forest). It was definitely a pretty rugged hike (hello Vermont rocks), but totally worth it!

After we got back, I headed out for a run when I saw a short window of opportunity (everyone wanted to shower/get ready for lunch) and did a quick 30 minutes! It's so much fun to explore a new area (as long as it is safe) outside. I managed to sneak a peek of this horse eating the grass through the open window.

The run was definitely super hilly!

3.25 miles to round out our last day in Vermont! The last part of my run was downhill and I felt super badass to sprint past this 10 or 11 year old trying to run and keep up with his friends. 

We left the next morning around 7 to head on our way to Canada!

Road Trip Recap Part 2- Maine!

Being able to stay where I grew up was truly special and something that I know not everyone can experience! My mom was generous enough to open up the home (it's usually boarded-up) for us to stay there while we were in Maine and it was amazing. Stella also loved having so many places to explore! 

Saturday I went for a short 4 mile run around the roads before my Dad's wedding. 

Holy humidity! But also running at sea level was AMAZING! My paces were consistently 20-40 seconds faster per minute (without any extra effort) than they typically are at altitude. 

After my run, I quickly showered and we were off to the wedding! Luckily it was super close to where we were staying and we could just walk over.  

Sometimes we dress up and look fancy!

On Sunday, we went out to lunch with my dad before he left for their honeymoon and then we went kayaking on the Saco River! It was super beautiful out and thankfully the humidity started to die down a bit. 

We also learned how much Stella enjoys Jeep Rides (like us). She hardly ever moved from that spot and she couldn't be happier! Monday morning we planned to get up early to go for a hike, so I got up early (so rough) to get my run in. 

4 miles later, we were showered and off to go hike in Crawford Notch! It was a bit chilly out, but luckily no rain showers showed up. Alex had never been hiking in NH before, so I took him and Stella on a relatively easy, but beautiful hike to the top of Mt. Willard! I've done this hike a few times and the views from the top still get me every time. 

It was pretty muddy on our hike and unfortunately I only brought along my running sneakers, so it was slower-going than normal. The hike to the top also brings you by a set of small falls that pour into Centennial Pool- super beautiful place to stop and rest. 

Tuesday we split off and did our own things (Alex went to go visit his friend that lives in Maine now & his nana/ I went off with my mom for the day) and we met back up at night to go have dinner with one of my oldest friends! I got in a run that morning of 3.25 miles before heading off to do some outlet shopping!

Wednesday, I got in another run and a quick strength training session before we headed off to Vermont (about a 2.5 hour drive) for the afternoon (then onto Massachusetts for the evening)!

While our trip was definitely short and we didn't get to do/ see everything that I had originally planned, it was really amazing. I think it made us both appreciate the area more and how lucky we were to grow up there. 

The ample amount of roads to run on definitely made me a bit envious (since Steamboat doesn't exactly feel like it has many route options to vary it up), but I made sure to soak up the amount of running time I had there and managed to get in runs on 4 of the 5 days we were there, so I'd say that was a bit of a success.

Getting up early definitely contributed my being able to get my runs in because after we ate breakfast, we were off for the rest of the day doing fun activities and seeing family/friends! It was also a great way to kinda just 'zone' out for 30 or 40 minutes and think of nothing but how beautiful it was out. Running in New England is special.

Stay tuned for part 3- Vermont/Massachusetts!

Beginning of trip recap- 2, 225 miles to Maine

We left Steamboat at around 5:30 (later than expected) and had to get to Maine by Friday evening (or Saturday morning at the latest). We definitely had a bit of a time-crunch to get there! 

Stealthy photo taken of Stella spying on us while on the road! The first night we drove until somewhere in Nebraska until around 11pm and stopped for the night at a hotel. 

We were up and out of the hotel by 7 and back on the road the next morning! Hello extra caffeine! Within 40 minutes of leaving the hotel, we crossed the Central Time Zone and added an hour onto our drive (bummer). Driving through Iowa seemed to take forever (it's really really flat there), but we finally hit Illinois and started feeling like we were actually getting somewhere!

We arrived in Indiana in the late afternoon and decided to stop there for the evening. That left us about 11 hours (12 with the time change) left to drive on Friday to get to Maine! 

The hotel that we stayed at (hellllo Quality Inn #2 - also never staying at another one again because we somehow only got these hotels through our priceline deals) had a gym hotel so I got in a quick 3.25 miles before we left around 7:30. 

Also Indiana has REALLY nice rest stops. They had Panera and we couldn't resist not stopping for some healthy eats while on the road. Fuji Apple Chicken Salad #1 please!

We hit the Eastern Time Zone again within an hour of leaving the hotel (definitely a pattern that followed throughout our entire trip) and soon enough we were in New York!

Driving through New York brought back so many fun college memories (I went to Syracuse in upstate NY) and we drove right by the exit that I would get off at when I drove to school after vacation breaks! I wanted to stop, but when we hit it at 6pm and knew we had 7 hours left to go, Alex wasn't all for it...ha ha. 

We arrived in Vermont around 9pm and drove right past Alex's parents house (so of course we had to stop there at 10pm at night and surprise them)! They were pretty surprised especially when we told them several times that there was "no way that we could stop there". 

We finally arrived in Maine at 2am on Saturday morning (pure adrenaline keeping us going at this point) and crashed until 10am! 

It was a really long trip and I think if we could have left a bit earlier on Wednesday, that would have made the last leg of the drive easier, but we really didn't hit much traffic and kept our stops to around 10-15 minutes (but would stop every 2-3 hours keeping our minds/bodies refreshed). The weather on Friday was pretty terrible as well (pouring rain almost the entire day), which slowed us down too- driving on the highway with hail/wind/rain= not so much fun. 

Back from Vacation & Thoughts on June Mileage!

Phew! We are FINALLY back from vacation after 13 days away! I had the full intention of continuing to do posts while away, but we only had about ~5 days where we had internet and believe it or not, we were actually really busy the entire time. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing?!?

Currently working on my vacation posts, but I'll recap my back from vacation mode now and put up the vacation recaps shortly!

Getting back on track after vacations are REALLY hard. All my body wants to do is sleep for eternity, but after not having much structure with my workouts for 3 weeks (including 2 weeks of vacation and 1 week of post-marathon goodness) I was seriously craving some good sweat sessions.

Endorphins from working out is definitely a thing because even though I'm still sleep-deprived my body is happier with being back into the work-out routine! We got back home Tuesday evening at 8pm (and still stuck on East Coast time, so it felt like 10pm) and unpacked the majority of our things and went straight to bed. I got up at 5 and still managed to get in an easy 4 miles and 30 minutes of a full body strength training. The rest of the day was spent at work catching up on everything I missed and teaching two skating lessons yesterday afternoon! Our internet has still been down since we arrived back (I swear this ALWAYS happens to us!), so we cooked up some chicken and topped our baby spinach salads with it (along with cucumbers, chopped carrots, and a bit of Parmesan). Super happy to be eating healthy again! 

This morning I was surpisingly pretty sore from my workout yesterday, so tried to take it a bit easier on my run. I did 5 miles, but probably should've slowed down my pace even more- live and learn, am i right?!

I tallied up my June mileage and was pretty disappointed with it. I ran a total of 81.7 miles, which doesn't seem like much, but June was a pretty scattered running month for me! It included 1.5 weeks of taper for the marathon, 26.2 miles for the race, a week totally off of running, and then 2 weeks of short runs (while on vacation). So all in all, I'm pretty happy that I even got over 80 miles this month- plus I got a shiny new PR for the marathon, so that counts for quite a bit!

This thought pattern also just brings me back to the thought of why are we so concerned with all the numbers and comparing ourselves to others? What's a high number for one person may not be considered high for another. This is SO true not just to running, but to others weights, how many races you've run, what your race PR is, how far you have or have not traveled, etc. 

We are all individuals and that is what makes us UNIQUE- be true to yourself and proud of your accomplishments because the person next to you probably thinks you're a ROCKSTAR (and you should probably think the same thing about yourself ((and them too))). 

I came across this quote last week and fell in love with it. Isn't love all that matters in the world?! 

Maybe I'm just being sentimental or all mushy from my stress-free vacation, but this really stuck with me and I'm going to try to center my thoughts more towards love and peace, rather than focusing on others. 

So enough of the mushy stuff! How's your dreaming beyond your comfort zone going?!

I'm still a work in progress on this (aren't we all?), but continuing to work towards improving myself and breaking down the barriers that I put up for myself. 

Three things that I am thankful for today:

• My Health
• My Family
• Green Tea with Honey <- currently fueling me through the afternoon slump!

How did you spend your Fourth of July?

Getting back to training/running/work-outs after a vacation- any tips?

How I Balance My Nutrition When Not Training For a Race

When I'm training for a race, I really pay attention to my nutrition, but I also enjoy the treats sometimes. Currently, I've just started to build up my base mileage again and maintain slow runs (or tried to) to continue my recovery. My mileage base this week may peak out at 20 miles and that's a big IF (especially since we're traveling the second half of this week) and I'm ok with that. 

So what kind of nutrition do I follow when I'm not running 35+ mileage weeks?

It's still a lot of healthy prepared meals, but I decrease my carbohydrate intake quite a bit. I'll still try to refuel after my runs with some protein/carb mix (I'm not so great at this a lot of time, but determined to improve) and eat lighter meals than when I was training.

Lighter meals for me look like: more leafy green salads, less rice/bread/ pasta, more veggies, yogurt with fruit and almond butter (sans granola), bananas/ apples, almonds (rather than crackers/ granola bars), and smaller portioned meals.

I also really enjoy this time when not training to treat myself! I'll still have ice cream/chocolate when training, but when not training I may indulge with a larger portion of ice cream or 3 mini peanut butter cups rather than 2! It's all about balance and moderation in my opinion!

I got up at 4:45 yesterday morning to get my work-out and run in before work/ leaving for our trip that afternoon. I surprised myself when I launched out of bed and was on the road running by 5:15! I was also treated to an incredible sunrise!

Just an easy 3 for me, but it certainly was still challenging! We live at the top of a pretty steep 3/4 mile hill (or rather, at the BASE of a ski mountain) and the way back up seriously kicks my butt. I'm determined to sprint up the entire thing when my next marathon rolls around!

After my run, I followed it up for a quick 15 minute strength training session. I'm slowly trying to maintain what strength I had before the marathon and build on-top of it! 3 rounds of arms with 8 Ib dumbbells and 2 rounds of side planks (held for 35 seconds each side). 

I'm SO excited to run back in my old stomping grounds in Maine- where I first truly started to love running! 

How do you balance nutrition when not training for a race?

Favorite treats to have during a training cycle? 

Favorite treats to have when not in a training cycle?