Friday, February 26, 2010

New record!

Ok, before I get to breakfast pics, I have some pretty exciting news to share (well, exciting to me, of course): This morning, I ran 5 miles in 48:56!!! I'm so incredibly stoked right now. It didn't come without pain though; I definitely had my share of side cramps, but I ran through them. And, during my cooldown walk, I contemplated going for another mile, but instead forced myself to press the STOP button on the treadmill and headed to the locker room. Could I have done 6, maybe 7 miles? Sure. Would I regret it the next day? Yeah, probably.

Although, I am contemplating on going again on Sunday and either repeating my time, beating it and/or increasing my mileage. We'll see.

I'm not at work today, so I was able to sleep in and had some Amazing Grass Green Superfood with water and 1/2 a small banana before I headed to the gym. I usually don't eat before my workouts on the days I get up at 5 am, but since I had time to digest and was planning a long-ish run, I decided it would be wise to fuel up a bit beforehand. I think that helped in the end.

And y'know what else? These strength training workouts have been buffing up my legs big time. The first half of my run was pretty cake because my legs just felt so strong and capable, versus heavy and sloppy. And with all of the squats and lunges I've been doing, my knees are stronger and rarely sore. In fact, this was probably the first long run where my knees didn't bother me afterward. High-five for getting stronger!

I'm seriously contemplating getting some champagne tonight to celebrate this run, haha. I thought for sure it would take me 50+ minutes (I did take walking breaks every mile), so when I saw a 4 in front of my final time, I freaked myself out. I wanted to break out into some serious fist pumps.



Yeah, those kind of fist pumps...

But alas, I simply went home, showered and rewarded myself with an awesome breakfast:



Big bowl of [soupy] fruity oats:



In this mix:
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 small banana
  • about 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (thawed)
  • about 1/2 cup frozen peaches (thawed)
  • 1 tbsp reduced-fat unsweetened coconut
  • 1.5 scoops of Biggest Loser vanilla protein powder
  • splash of vanilla extract
  • splenda
Oh. My. God. Probably one of the best (if not THE best) bowl of fruity oats I've made. I totally wrecked that bowl.

And on the side, cold coffee with 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze:



Probably will skip lunch pics today. I'm not planning on having a traditional lunch anyway, seeing as I finished breakfast at 11 am. We have dinner reservations at Rock Bottom Brewery this evening, so I'll probably have a small snack before we head out. I've been dreaming of their smoked salmon fish 'n' chips for months now, so I'm gonna order those. But I'll probably ditch the chips for some steamed veggies. I really just want hunks of beer battered smoked salmon and not much else. Omg. Can't wait. I'll try to remember to take pics before I inhale them like a Shop-Vac. 'Cause, y'know, that's the plan.

Hope everyone is having an awesome Friday!

4 comments:

Amanda (Two Boos Who Eat) said...

Congrats on the awesome run! I wish I could run 5 miles that fast! Hopefully one day.

That fruity oatmeal looks delish!

Tamara said...

Thanks! It took me a loooong time to be able to complete a run like that, so as long as you're consistent and patient with yourself, you'll definitely get there!

There really are no words for that oatmeal, haha. I'm out of strawberries and kind of freaking out now.

Anonymous said...

DUDE! That is fantastic. I am so proud of you. You’re lucky that you are “allowed” to be on the treadmill that long. It is frowned upon at my gym. The thing with me is when I get a really good time on my run, I always have that number in my head and want to beat it every time I go for a run. But because I have started the half marathon training, I am going to try and stick to what I have planned, no matter how much more I want to run. Do you do 10s & 1s? Or just run until you want to walk? What speed do you run and walk at?

It always shocks me (yes, shocks) that you don’t eat before you work out. I did that once and I could not handle it. I felt so weak and dizzy and yucky. But hey, what works for one person may not work for the next.

Tamara said...

Thanks! I typically take a walking break every mile or so, usually for 30 second to a minute.

My speed varies, depending on my level of energy that day. 6.0 mph minimum and up to 7 mph. I try to stay between 6.2 and 6.5 the majority of the time. During my walk breaks, I slow down to 3.5, then gradually (and quickly) work my way up to 5.5, then 6.0.

Our gym has a gazillion treadmills and since I go so early and hardly anyone is there, I'm free to stay on pretty long. Since I'm one of the regs, the owners and the staff don't mind. It's nice. I love my gym.

Yeah, eating beforehand usually doesn't work for me unless I have at least an hour in between, which I don't, during the weekdays. When I do try to squeeze in a light snack before a 5am workout, it actually makes me feel crappier and sluggish.