Feature Friday- Pre Long Run Nutrition

HAPPY FRIYAY! Finally! This week was equally long and short. Don't tell that's not possible, because it most definitely IS. I wanted to share a few of my favorite pre- long run (or race day) nutrition products with you today. I mainly stick with all natural products before my longer runs (but have a pretty strong stomach and have definitely eaten some crazy things before shorter runs...sandwiches, eggs, waffles, ice cream..you get the picture) that has a mixture of carbs/protein/sugar. I typically also have atleast a half of banana (if not a whole one) about an hour before my run and try to eat 1.5-2 hours before heading out for the race/long run. 

• Bobo's Coconut Almond Nut Butter Oat Bar 
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• Nuun Active Electrolytes with Energy (caffeine)

• Nature's Path Frosted Wildberry Acai Pop Tarts

• Kodiak Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix

• Nature's Path Instant Oatmeal Maple & Brown Sugar (these are AWESOME to travel with!!)

Do you have any favorites for pre-race or long run fueling? 

Any special tactics you have for eating before a big race (1, 2, or 3 hours beforehand)?

Favorite fuels that work well when you travel to a race or do you find them once you get there?

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?

Track Tuesday & 5 DAYS

Started off the morning (my last early morning run until the Marathon) with an interval workout on the Track!

My training schedule called for 2 miles warm-up (10:00min/mi pace) then 6 x 400s at 1:56 pace (actual: 1:46, 1:52, 1:51, 1:52, 1:50, 1:47) with 200 recovery in-between sets then 1 mile cool-down. I felt so strong and definitely wanted to keep going, but I will save my legs for the race on Sunday! 5.25 miles total. 

I recovered tonight by putting my legs up the wall. I'm trying to do this and a foot stretch to help with any plantar facistis that I have at least once a day leading up to Sunday's race. Anyone else a fan of putting their feet up the wall? I normally try for just 5 minutes, but honestly love it so much that I've been like that for up to 15 minutes!

Also saw another gorgeous sunrise on my drive into town this morning. It's amazing what you can see when you're up and out of the house early!

We made Run Fast Eat Slow's Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes tonight and the Avocado Cream on the side. I didn't have any limes or jalapenos, so I subbed for some lemon juice and red pepper flakes--> IT WAS AMAZING! Highly recommend this recipe from their book if you haven't tried it already. It was pretty easy once I popped the sweet potato in my Instant Pot for about 20 minutes (this one was pretty large and took 10 minutes longer than most do). Prep and cook-time were ~25-30 minutes. 

Tomorrow's another rest day (all the rest days are ROUGH- I have way too much energy at night and need to fill them with some new projects)! I already scheduled a mani/pedi to treat myself after the race, so I know that will help push me towards that finish line! I haven't really started to feel too nervous yet and am mainly just excited for race day (I'm sure the nerves will come...). Happy Tuesday!

When do you like to do your speed work? Tuesdays? Wednesdays? Do you do it more than 1 time per week?

Favorite running recipe? 

Favorite way to rest & recover at the end of a long day?

Long weekend fun!

Hellloooo Tuesday! Going back to work after a long weekend is SO tough. Luckily, my weekend included lots of rest, relaxation, and running. Friday (rest day for me) started off with a lunch date with my person at our favorite spot (Winonas - a MUST if you are ever in Steamboat) for some buffalo chicken salads!

Then we made homemade pizza for dinner (perfect for carbo-loading for my long run in the morning) and it was amazing! Forgot to take a picture (I think I devoured it too quickly ;) ).

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:45 to get my 16 miles in and it was pouring out. I started with 6 easy outside then headed on the treadmill for 7 at just under marathon goal pace (8:57 with some downhill training) and finished it up with 3 outside (in-between showers finally). 

Since it was a total wash of a day, we relaxed at home (luckily there was a Harry Potter marathon on and we mayyyy have watched 2 or 3 of them!). I made the most AMAZING lasagna from Run Fast, Eat Slow and even made homemade marinara sauce (definitely a game-changer; also added in a parmesan rind that I had lying around and it made the sauce extra cheesy). 

On Sunday, the weather finally felt like Spring (mid-60s) and we headed out to camp! We half-expected to arrive to the campsite (about 30 minutes away from home) and for it to be full because of the Holiday weekend, but only 2 of the 11 sites were filled (and stayed that way the entire night)!

I got in a 3-mile run between leaving our place before Alex left in the car (got in 1.15 miles with Stella) until he picked us up on our way out there and then finished up my run after we set-up our site. It was SO peaceful out there!

We did a short hike out Teepee Creek and ended up hitting snow (I wish more trails were dry)! The part that we did hike was beautiful and with no one else around- so serene. 

Since it's still mud-season here, Stella's paws turned into a dark brown mess. Luckily, she found a snow pile to plop down and cool-off in!

I think one of my favorite parts of camping has to be how good food tastes out here! We had some chopped up corn on the cob and sausage for dinner and had to follow that up with smores! They were soooo good. I'm cutting out sugar now until after my race in 12 days and can't wait until I can have another smore. 

The temperatures Sunday night dropped down into the low 30's and it was COLD! I think I wore my hat all night and luckily had mittens on the next morning until it started warming up.

We got home early Monday morning and after cleaning for a bit (Alex's dad is visiting this coming weekend, so we had to clean everything and make sure his room was good to go), I headed out to get a run and strength training session in. 

One sneaker on, one sneaker off- it's how I do.

I did an easy 3 miles (the taper is kinda really nice in the beginning) then 25 minutes of a full-body strength session before grabbing some flowers and running a few other errands in town. 

I got straight to gardening when I got home (first ever garden by myself #adulting) and added in some rocks that we got on our hike Sunday! Hopefully, they stay alive for most of the summer....

I need to add-in a few more rocks when I find them, but I think it looks pretty cute! 

For dinner, I made Paleomg's Bacon Chorizo Chipotle Smothered Meatloaf (one of Alex's favorite meals) and it was amazing!

That's my long weekend recap! Now back to work and looking forward to next weekend already :)

Do you normally like to get your long runs done in one shot or break them up?

Favorite home-cooked meal?

Ever tried making your own marinara sauce? What are some things you like to add in it?

Intervals, Power of Positivity, & My Love For Chulula

My second-to-last longer interval training run was scheduled for Tuesday and I planned to wake-up at 4:45 to get it done with before heading to work. However, my cold was still causing me a sore throat and slight congestion so I turned my alarm off and decided to do it after work. During the taper, I try to take every precaution to not get sick and get more sleep, so afternoon taper it was! I was still exhausted, didn't eat as many carbs/proteins as I would have liked to, it was super windy, the trails were congested, and my throat was worse- I kept coming up with excuses the entire run!

This is funny because I was just saying the other night how I was needing to start to be more positive. My mental strength definitely starts to weaken during the later miles in a marathon and I am determined to work on staying positive. However, here I was in the middle of my speedwork session and I could not get out of my head! I started feeling like Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and how an oompa loompa would need to roll me home because I was feeling round like a blueberry. 

Then, as I began my cool down miles I started to switch my thinking from negative thoughts to positive ones. I started to think about how lucky I was to live in such a beautiful place and how wonderful the sun felt. It made a huge difference in how I mentally finished out my run. While my splits were not all 100% perfect, I hit the majority of them after a tough day and while still being SO sore from my reformer pilates class the day before.

Ended up finishing the day with 9.2 miles:

• 2.10 miles warm-up
  • 1 mile @ 7:50-8:00 (actual: 7:58 min/mi)- 800 recovery
  • 1200 @ 5:52 (actual: 5:50 min/mi)- 400 recovery
  • 800 @ 3:55 (actual: 3:55 min/mi)-400 recovery
  • 400 @ 1:56 (actual: 1:56 min/mi)-400 recovery
  • 1200 @ 5:52 (actual: 5:55 min/mi)-400 recovery
  • 800 @ 3:55 (actual: 4:04 min/mi w/ 100 short)-400 recovery
  • 400 @ 1:56 (actual: 2:02 min/mi)- 400 recovery
• 2.10 miles cool-down

I think working with positivity will continue to be a work in progress for many months, but am hopeful that I will be able to mentally concur the marathon when I get it down! 

This morning I felt so much better (thanks to my 7:30 bedtime last night) and headed to the gym to get in a 30 minute strength training session and easy 3.25 bike ride & 1.5 mi recovery run. 

We finished out our day with TACOS and chulula on top of everything. It was seriously so amazing. My love for chulula may rival my love for Alex...or Stella....maybe....

We're over humpday and SO close to the long weekend! The weather doesn't look too great here, so our plans for camping or backpacking are still up in the air. Hoping it clears up for us to enjoy some much-needed fresh air and sunshine!

What are your go-to thoughts to improve your mood?

Ever tried to be more mentally tough or positive? How'd it go? Any tips?

Are you a hot sauce lover?