The Good, The Bad & The Yummy

I've been pretty consistent about posting on Monday's about the weekend happenings, and finally came up with my title for it "The Good, The Bad & The Yummy". This way I am highlighting the weekend and it helps me categorize and process things, after all this blog is my outlet of things in my head and going on in my life. I'm going to come up with a logo for the GB&Y, gimme a little time.

The Good:
Friday: 16 mile bike ride on my new wheels. I am getting more comfortable on the bike, and getting used to switching the gears and such. I'm still a newbie with my road biking, but I'm getting there. It was a sunny spring day I couldn't resist getting outside (although I had to bundle up, it was still chilly!)

Saturday:  Got to spend the afternoon/evening with good friends. Our friends from Vermont were in NY for the weekend to celebrate their daughters 2nd birthday:) Can't beat kids birthday parties, and getting to see friends from out of state!

Sunday: 

20-mile run with Hollie. There are so many good things about this, hard to name them all. Let's just start with how grateful I am that she came out to run with me for 20 miles and keep me company. This was her first 20 miler (at once), and she isn't even training for anything longer than a half. Basically, she's awesome.

We had a great time talking the whole run, catching up on our lives, gossiping, making fun of things we saw along the way. Afterwards we continued our post-run tradition of getting food and coffee. Hit up Magnolias for some coffee and eats and more chatting. Also, what would a trip to Rochester for her be without Wegmans and Starbucks? Seriously. I love having these 2 things so easily accessible for me.

Sunday night, I FINALLY got to see 'Wicked' the musical. I have been so excited for this since John told me we were going a few months ago. The show was wonderful, sets were immaculate and the effects were over the top. I knew a little about the story line before the show, but not everything.  For those of you who aren't familiar, Wicked follows the story of the Elpheba the 'Wicked Witch' who grew up being friends with Glenda the 'Good Witch'. They went to school together, were friends and the story follows how Elpheba was really just 'misunderstood' and not evil. I loved the show, the story line and the twist ending. It takes place before/during/after "The Wizard of Oz" so you see some tie-in plot points (who the scarecrow, and tin man really are, and why the cowardly lion is a coward, who the witch under the house with the shoes is...etc). The cast was great, those girls had some pipes on them, which makes me ridiculously jealous because my singing abilities extend to shower singing, car singing, and happy birthday singing.

The Bad:

My car... is acting up....again....After spending over 500 on it last week, it's doing the exact same thing. The mechanic is going to be very sorry for having to deal with me again.

Syracuse lost Saturday night to Michigan. I was seriously bumming about this, there were a lot of things that contributed to the loss. 1st of all, we missed so many easy shots, which was frustrating as all hell. 2nd, The 2-3 zone wasn't affecting Michigan because they were getting to the other end of the court faster than we could be prepared for it. Last, I will say that there were a few bad foul calls that really put us under (I think the Michigan boys took some acting classes on how to make a fall look real when it's not, and how to act like a baby when they get love tapped). So the win goes to Michigan for the game, and so does the Award for Best Team Acting/Drama Queens.

My P.I.T.A....After yesterdays 20, I really do have a pain in my rear that wont go away. It's on the left side and affects my glute and hamstring, hopefully some more stretching and icy hot patches will help. I wore 3 icy-hot patches under my dress to the show last night (One of those moments, you know you're a runner), I kept walking around asking 'is my patch showing', not my finest moment.

Wind has been ridiculous lately...I won't complain about the temperatures as they have been getting better. Although I am ready for consistently warmer temps, I'll leave that be for right now. But the wind, oh dear me that damn wind. I'm tired of feeling like saying "were not in Kansas anymore toto". 

The Yummy:

Friday: I made the man and I some Tilapia for dinner. I love it for many reasons, it's cheap, easy, and healthy. I am pretty sure we call that a trifecta. Seasoned Tilapia with spices and Wegmans basting Oil. Paired it with Trader Joe's seasoned roasted corn, baked both together and topped off with fresh salsa. Served it over gluten-free pasta to add some carb's. It was a last minute throw together meal and I was happy with how it came out. I don't cook nearly as much as I'd like, but I was proud of this. Although I do need to work on my presentation, it needed a little green or something. (If you want the recipe and what I seasoned it with let me know! It had a wonderful Southwestern taste to it)

Saturday: I ate chicken nuggets and tater tots at our friends daughters party, and it was fantastic. I'm not even going to pretend to feel bad about this.

Sunday: When Hollie and I went to lunch at Magnolias, I got the usual post-run coffee and water to drink. At first I was bummed we missed breakfast, but I was ridiculously happy with what I ended up getting. Started with a spinach and roasted red pepper soup, let me tell you...it was amazing. Then I got a wrap (built my own): Spinach wrap stuffed with prosciutto  spinach, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and goat cheese. It was so good, I only ate half at the restaurant and ate the other half later before we went to the show, and it was just as good later as it was the first time. I don't want to leave out my Starbucks, because I did something I only do on occasion....a Quad-shot mocha. Yes...4 espresso shots in a drink, I had to make sure I would stay awake all afternoon and night for the show.

This is what it takes to keep me going these days....

Overall it was a decent weekend, busy  but good none the less. Hoping to get more training time in this week, I think it's safe to say my motivation and mojo are coming back after they took a vacation without me. Excited to get into more runs this week, hopefully some outdoor ride time on my Felt, and some quality time in the pool as well. Life's a little crazy at the moment and will be for a while, but it will so be worth it when it's done! (Lots of good things happening at work!)

How was your weekend?
What are your plans for the week, big workouts?

Easter Weekend Shenanagins

This was a busy weekend, lots of fun & fitness, and my bank account kind of hates me right now.
I suppose there are worse things.

Friday

Work then a little shopping and lunch with mom. This however, is not why my bank account hates me.

Friday Night was spent relaxing and running errands. I have my phone on me at all times, assuming Megan is going to go into labor at any moment. She hasn't yet so I spent Friday night watching movies, and studying for some work things.
 (I'll explain more about studying for work another day, that's a whole post in itself) 

Saturday

Early morning, as always for a race. 

Hollie & I warming up at Mendon Ponds

Hollie drove out to run Spring Forward 15k with me. We got to Mendon Ponds Park with a little time to spare after finding parking. We ran around warming up and attempting to not be miserable. It was chilly at the start, and we are both recovering from races so neither of us was extremely stoaked to race. The thing about the two of us is....taking it easy is not always easy for us. We both ended up having pretty darn good runs. She finished 4th for women and I was 8th woman. I beat my time on this course from last year, so I was happy. Especially since my legs were shot all week from the 30k last weekend.

Proof I look like a gremlin when I run.
This was the last half mile of the race.
Finished in 1:05:50 for 15k (9.3 miles)

I really wasn't sure what I was going to be able to run. All week my runs felt like crap and I had to simply focus on one foot in front of the other. The Spring Forward 15k course is also pretty challenging, the hills are tall and frequent. I managed somewhat even splits, besides some...erm..hiccups from 6-8 (most of the hills).

I didn't finish as strong as I would have liked, mentally and physically I was drained and wanted to be done.

The Dynamic Duo: Hollie & myself.

After the race, Hollie and I walked around catching up with people we knew and just taking it easy. There were so many people there that I hadn't seen in a long time so it was nice catching up, runners really are great people. 

After that, we went to lunch at a local Mediterranean restaurant and chatted over 12 cups of coffee.....each. Friendship is finding someone who needs caffeine as much as you do. Like seriously. After lunch we meandered across the street to Towpath Bike so I could admire the shiny expensive road bikes. I have been looking at a few different ones, and I had to go see them in person.

Like a little kid with my new wheels!

Later that day I brought John back to Towpath with me (hes my resident bike expert, and seeing as we are going to be getting hitched, big expenses sort of need to be discussed together). I had been looking at a Trek Lexa, and a Felt ZW100, and decided to start by trying the Felt out. They let me take her for a spin, and gave John a bike to ride with me. After 15 minutes of riding around and playing with gears, I was in love. A swipe of the debit card later (here is where my bank account started hating on me), and I was a proud new owner of a Silver Felt ZW100 and a new Bontrager Quantum helmet. 

It was an investment that I know will be worth it. With my first multi-sport event being a month away, and my first half iron a few months away I know I will be getting so much use out of it. One of the best things is that even though John just had knee surgery, he is allowed to bike. So even though we can't run together right now, he is able to go on some rides with me and give us some more time together.

We rushed home after getting my bike and got some food and were watching the Syracuse vs. Marquette NCAA Basketball game. I had my 'Cuse shirt on and was a happy little camper relaxing watching the game. John also laughed at me multiple times because he would come in the room and I would just be standing with my bike.

This was the point when I realized that my favorite 'cuse shirt matches my new silver and orange bike. WINNING #OrangeNation

On to Easter Sunday....

I spent my morning with my beautiful Kinvara's, but they were begging me for some easy miles so that's what they got. We did 7 easy miles around the city and felt great to just relax and run. Easy miles were just what my legs and mind needed to unwind and end the week on a good note. Beautiful morning for a run, it was peaceful out and weather was nice enough that only capris and a light long sleeve were necessary. This spring weather this weekend was wonderful, too bad winter has to be a pain in the ass and come back for the next few days (according to the weather man in the box). 

When I came back from my run, I was in for a rude awakening. I went to get in my car to go get some Starbucks and run an errand and my car was acting weird, kept shutting off when I would turn it over. John came down and helped me, after tinkering around and changing the spark plugs(thinking that would help), we were in for another rude awakening. There are some other problems under the hood, and for the time being I am crossing my fingers it isn't too serious. That's kind of my luck, I drop a pretty penny (okay, lots of pretty pennies) on a new bike, and the next day my car starts acting up. (thanks Murphy, you're an ass.) We managed to get it down the road to the shop so they can look at it in the morning, everyone cross your fingers please.

My Felt road bike, and John's Felt Tri-bike

In the early afternoon, John and I took our fleet of Felt's out for some miles on the canal. It was great to get my new wheels out there and see what they could do. Unfortunately the canal path was pretty packed today so we couldn't really fly, but it was good to be easy and focus on learning the gears and getting used to my bike. Can't complain about enjoying spring weather and riding bikes with my man, quality time together. We got roughly 9 miles in before we had to head home to get ready for Easter Dinner.

Easter dinner with my parents was great, good food (Prime rib, yummy!) and great company. Unfortunately didn't get to see my sister and her husband. She still hasn't gone into labor, hopefully within the next few days.We are all beyond anxious to meet this little man!!

Overall it was a good weekend, eventful and kind of tiring (not sure why it took so much out of me), but good all the same. This week I need to focus on getting base running and biking mileage in and LOTS of stretching. I am having a few issues (not injuries), that need some attention. I need to focus on them before they turn into injuries, so bring on the stretching, weights, foam rolling and ice.



How was your Easter weekend?
Did you manage to get some workouts in with the Holiday?
Ever had car troubles show up at the worst possible time?

It's a Good Friday Indeed

Today is Good Friday, most people think of it as that for the Religious reasons. 

I will rarely (if ever..) post my religious beliefs (or lack there of) on here, same with politics. It's just not the place for it, as neither hold a huge presence in my life.

But for the sake of it, I'll say Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter weekend. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and spends time with loved ones, that's the most important part about holiday's, regardless of your beliefs.

Quick recap: 

Yesterday's run, 6 miles in 48 minutes. It felt like complete and utter poo from the moment I started. My legs feel heavy and tired and incredibly slow. I seriously expected to look at my Garmin and see 14 minute miles... how I ran straight 8's is beyond me. One damn foot in front of the other has pretty much been my running style all week. 

Translation: I'm not as recovered from last weekends unplanned speed-show at the 30k as I would like to be, even though I have been taking it easy all week.

Alternate Translation: Tomorrow's Spring Forward 15k with Hollie is going to be a shit-show, I have no idea what I'll be able to pull off, good thing it's not a goal race. Oh well, they can't all be good. (The guaranteed good thing is getting to see Hollie and go for fabulous food afterwards...) 

This was under my running coat for my run,
 had to start the 'cuse mojo a few hours prior to the game.

Post-run in my new spring running coat.

I spent the rest of the evening running errands, picking up packets for the race, putting together Easter baskets, doing laundry and making dinner. I even watched a little white-trash-TV while waiting for the 'cuse game to come on (9:45 PM start time). 

In case you haven't noticed, I am not just a running/fitness junkie, I LOVE sports too. I was the kid in the house always watching football with the guys, some very fond memories actually. My love for Syracuse Basketball came in Jr.High/High school. I used to go to games all the time and lived and breathed it during the season (remember when Carmello was dominating for 'Cuse, yeah I witnessed that on multiple occasions). It's pretty funny, because I can't play basketball to save my life but I love supporting 'Cuse. 

Fact: I love sports, but I don't really care about baseball (I know everyone is gearing up for opening day, don't expect updates on that from me. EVER.)

#ORANGEnation

Making dinner and gearing up for the 'Cuse game.

Well in case you didn't know, Syracuse won which upset top seed Indiana (hell yeahhhh!). It was a good game, the Hoosiers didn't have a chance against our zone last night. We picked a good time to  get back into a good groove. I was also very happy that Marquette beat Miami (I didn't plan on this), because I think we have a better chance against them. 'Cuse is a championship team, Jim Boeheim is basically a hero of mine, and he can lead this team through anything. Excited to watch the game at 4:30 tomorrow!(must scatter off and do laundry so I can wear my favorite 'cuse shirt)

The weekend plans are pretty much "ideas" right now because my nephew could be coming at any time, and that would make plans go out the window so I can haul ass down to Elmira to be with my sister and her husband. I am so excited to meet this little man!

Workouts 'planned' for the weekend:

Friday: 60 minutes easy biking, 30 minutes weights/core

Saturday: 15k Race(erm. semi-fast run, I hope.), most likely a few added miles warm-up/cool-down

Sunday: 13 miles easy running, 2 hours biking

Do you watch college basketball?

What is your favorite sport (not including running/fitness)?

What are your plans for the weekend?