Eating on Credit

If you’re a triathlete, duathlete, runner, swimmer, cyclist or any type of fit person at all, chances are you’ve had someone quip to you: oh, I bet you can eat whatever you want and not have to worry about it.

Pshaw!

It’s no great secret (in the blogosphere, at least) that I have a little bit of a sweet tooth. But the truth is I’m a healthy eater whose not only conscious about what she eats and what she feeds the people she loves, but knows a thing or two about nutrition and what treats a body right.

I don’t always follow that knowledge, but I have it.

And one of my greatest sins against that knowledge (which is not included in the latest edition of modern sins recently released by the pope) is eating on credit. You know, those days when you KNOW you’re going to run after work so you eat enough during the day on the excuse that you need fuel for later… only to go home, plop on the couch and nap for the rest of the night to the tune of Cavaliers games, Friends re-runs and rom-coms on HBO?

That’s pretty much what 2008 has looked like for me. Gone are the days when I could come home, make and eat dinner, nap and then go for a 5-miler. Or so I had thought.

Following a bill of health-clearing doctor’s visit Monday afternoon, I came home to cook and overeat a high-protein meal with Neil. And just as the Cavs were about to tip off, I could hear my sleepy couch calling my name. I’ll admit I was really bummed about losing an hour for DST. Having light until 7:30 p.m., however, not only kicked butt, but demolished my excuses to nap and not run. Sidewalk or no sidewalk.

So, I pulled on my running tights and some combination of black jacket (to contrast against the snow) and white top layer (to reflect against in the dim light) to run for a hour at 9:30/mile pace on what turned out to be a) near-perfect running weather: an unwindy 35 degrees; b) almost the same conditions of weather, sludge and hills as St. Malachi; and c) good practice for Saturday’s race.

I ran around six miles—give or take a few fractions—that were moderately hilly, persistently puddly and slightly slippery miles on concrete that should mirror a portion of Malachi’s route (that last hill just isn’t replicable this far from San Francisco). So, I shouldn’t have the bulk of surprises I saw last year when I had zero hill, puddle and cold running experience. Sad, isn’t it?

Because I haven’t exactly been running my butt off this year (but have been credit-eating a new butt on), my goal for this race is simple: beat last year’s time of 45:03.60.

While my goal for the year is to average 8:00/mile pace across my races, I’d really like to take this early race in stride and be realistic about where my legs are right now. And they’re just not at 8:00/mile over five miles. Yet.

Besides, if I start reaching goals too soon, what’s the use in devising rewards for my milestones? How will I ever deserve an overhelping of cupcakes and fill up my new Frequent Cupcake Card (you read that correctly) from Main Street Cupcakes?

Once my miles, training, swims and races kick up again next month, I’ll be eating my rewards and enjoying them too. And not cupcake-binging on credit.

The Sweet, Sweet Truth

I’ve been good at climbing since I was two or three years old. It was really a means of survival. Surviving as a sweets-obsessed kid, that is.

You think I have a sweet tooth now? Well, adult-me is totally under control. When I was a kid I would wait for my parents to go outside, go to work or just get distracted and then climb the kitchen cabinets to get the sweets they stored on the top-most shelves in the house.

The treats were so high, I had to stand on the counter, use props to pull things down and pitch them back to their rightful places. Once I finished eating the sweets, I developed complex wrapper-disposal plans, which generally meant throwing them under my bed or putting them at the bottom of the garbage, to hide my indulgences.

I thought I was so slick. I always felt like I was getting away with something.

That’s how I felt on Thursday evening when I took advantage of yet another “last day before the Abominable Snowman returns” and ran around my neighborhood. Rumor has it that the world’s ending again this weekend, so it really felt like a treat (just like Sunday and Monday) to get out running.

How great is it when running becomes a reward? A treat to do? I remember this time last year when I was fretting over my upcoming first race at St. Malachi (that’s why I’m so eager to go back!). While I had been running for 2.5 months, it hadn’t become something enjoyable yet or something I longed to do. Like it is now.

And the concept that running for 45 minutes after work would be a) relaxing; b) invigorating; and c) a short run would have blown my mind a year ago. Oh, how far I’ve come! Oh, how far I have to go!

The upside of nasty weather is that it tempers you to nasty-but-not-as-nasty weather. Running in last year’s 20-below totally made 15-degree days doable. Granted, this year I’ve been supremely wimpy, but I’ve begun to find 30+ days pretty enjoyable. I may not be the frostbite-loving runner I was last year. Maybe just a smarter version of myself.

Last night’s run was another laid back, squeeze-it-in-while-you-can run that covered about 4.5 miles. I wasn’t keeping track. The only unfortunate thing was that I never seemed to warm up and felt stiff in the shins the whole time. It kind of put a bump in my warm-up time analysis (in prep for race season), but it still gave me some data.

So far, I'm not on any type of training plan; just getting into the swing. But I've been scouring resources, coaches advice, publications and blogs to get a sense for my summer training, and I'm feeling inspired.

Unfortunately for Thursday's run too, it didn’t end with a cupcake. I always treat myself to dessert after dinner, but it’s generally on the scale of cinnamon-dusted fresh apples and pears. You just can’t beat fresh fruit.

Besides, cupcakes will have to wait until next Saturday, following my first race. Main Street Cupcakes reports a new Boston Cream cupcake, which my dreams say will be my new favorite. Move over red velvet and canary crème!

OK, so I’m a little big on desserts and I always have been. Thankfully, I was active and dentally hygienic as a kid. Otherwise this blog would be about living as a 900-pound diabetic with sugar crystals in place of teeth. Perhaps an interesting read, but not exactly the life I imagine.

Like most kids, I loved candy. But I didn’t just love candy, I was obsessed with sweets. Cookies, crèmes, napoleans, pastries, truffles, trifles, tartes, tortes, brownies, cupcakes, crepes, fritters, scones, biscuits, mousse, custards, pies and cakes—you name it! I was the under-10 expert on it. And it was all dee-lish.

Most runners I know scold me for my sweet, sweet ways, but it generally calms them to know that I not only make most of the desserts I eat, but I tend to use natural ingredients and rarely use any refined sugars at all. In fact, I’ve tried to curb the unhealthy factor in my sweetventures by replacing cookies with Luna bars or having a bowl of fruit in place of a fruit tart.

Perhaps I'm obsessed and a little indulgent, but I have a good approach!

While the holidays—including my birthday—threw me off the wagon and tossed a few pounds my way (I have to be lugging around 5-6 extra pounds of cupcakes and dobos torte alone!), I’m totally ready for a new season of running rewards and the season of rampant fresh fruit.

Here's to yum!

Half Marathon: Here I Come!

Bloggers and friends are awesome. It’s been a down couple of days, but between comment-encouragement and an angel-hair-with-all-kinds-of-good-stuff lunch, I’m feeling all right.

And now my remaining anxiety is all about parking in downtown Akron. Sigh. There’s always something.

My plan: leave the house early tomorrow morning (I only live about 10 miles away, which as a lifelong Clevelander seems strange to me), find parking, stretch, warm-up, stretch and stay active. For all of my this-is-the-longest-I’ve-ever-raced events, I’ve burned up so much energy and water being nervous that I’m determined to distract myself and stay positive. Besides it’s only 13.1 miles. I can totally do that!

My goal: it all depends on the calf. Believe me, it’s not a cop out. But if I’ve feeling strong, I would be pleased with 8:30/mile (1:51:00). I know I’m capable of it without a bum calf. With a bum calf, however, I’ll aim for anything under 9:00/mile (1:58:00). And if I’m feeling flippin’ fantastic, the sky is the limit—that is, if the sky is 8:00/mile.

Last night I took another 3-mile brisk walk without even attempting to jog. My fingers are crossed that the extra-super rest will help. It’s been a very strange week—going from 31 miles in a week to… two. I think I’m literally itching to run. I jogged rapidly down the hall at work when I heard there was free food in the kitchen, but that was it.

My friend Jeff, however, has extolled the virtue of BioFreeze pain reliever gel (think BenGay but less stinky), which I know I’ve received samples and samples of in goody bags all summer long. I just hope I’ve kept some of them.

Finally, when I cross the finish tomorrow, my friend Melissa and I will head to Main Street Cupcake in Hudson for my celebratory treat. Good things come to those who wait… and run. If you’re feeling cupcakey, please join us!

For now I’m going to go join other marathoners/half-marathoners/relay-racers/10Kers in Akron for packet pick-up. All the best to Salty on her inevitably speedy leg of the relay and to everyone else running this weekend!

The More I Learn About Running

The more I enjoy doing it. When I ran with Melissa on Monday afternoon, I only took a 2.74-mile run around the track at the rec. center before rapidly walking another mile with Melissa as we talked about my stride.

I told Melissa, who is a famed and fantastic runner, that when I shadow-check my stride, my arms seem to be right and my kick-back isn’t bad, but I didn’t think my knees were moving much at all. And she agreed. It turns out that I’ve been running pretty much flat-fronted, and not in the way that I would prefer. While I’m not sure whether it’s been a long-term problem or emphasized by my most-recent injury (of the many), I’ll have to start working on it.

On the bright side, Melissa reassured me that the rest of my stride was actually quite good despite all of the misaligned, pulled, tweaked and ached things going on with my bones and such these days. All I have to do is continue to maximize the productivity of my stride… and then I can start thinking about other things like cadence.

But before I even start thinking about cadence, I’m focusing on building my distance again. I have felt great on all of my recent runs (the sciatic pain is very slight and warms away about a mile into my run), but have shied away from too long of runs for fear that I’ll end up in the woods with a bear and a sciatic nerve biting my butt. I am, however, trying to add a little bit of distance each time.

So, on Wednesday night I headed out after work on what turned out to be a cool and pleasant evening. I walked my 2-mile brisk warm-up and then started on my run. After about 300 meters, my lower back was stinging and all of my worst fears rushed at me. But it wasn’t that bad. I started walking quickly again, stretching my arms, legs and back as I strode along. After another 250 meters, I kicked the walk into a slow jog and picked it up from there.

Everything felt all right after the first half-mile, so I started looking at my stride again. One of these days, I promise myself, I will get this running thing right!

For the first half-mile, I ran with over-emphasized knees, which felt really goofy at first. And for the next half-mile, I tried to run my stride with a little more knee. It felt far closer to natural on the back half, but I could still see in my shadow that I was a little flat-fronted (yes, I shadow run from time to time; it’s very safe). Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a bad shadow angle.

Have you ever heard of someone with such difficulty with putting one foot in front of the other? I don’t know what my deal is, but I tried to run the remainder of my 4.26 miles with varying degrees of knee success. It will be yet another thing to work on…

But for now (my office air conditioning broke and it’s just not pleasant Web designing in an 86-degree office), I’m going swimming. I can do that!

[NEWS ALERT: Magnolia bakery has been temporarily shut down for health code violations. Gina is recovering from the shock and will seek treatment at the still-stellar Main Street Cupcakes in NEOhio.]

Back from a Good Run in NYC

After a lovely trip to New York, I’m back in NEOhio for the foreseeable future. Neil has a vacation freeze and I have a thesis to develop and write. We’ll be going back to New York in early August, but I’ll be hitting the roads for the rest of the summer in this neck of the country.

My computerless home life and the NYC trip have kept me blog-free for several days, but I’ve been itching to report on my New York running experience. We flew in on Friday, and walked about ten miles each day through Sunday. And we even set the land-speed record for making it from the Upper Eastside to the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge (less than 1.5 hours) by subway and foot.

But that Sunday wasn’t all about running through crowds and angering Neil by jumping on the wrong trains. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always admired the people I saw jogging through Central Park. Until recently, however, I couldn’t have run more than a quarter mile, so I could never be one of them. And until this past weekend, I never realized how many people there actually were!

I started my run at Mariel’s apartment on E. 85th and ran to the park. I wound through the paths and roads until I jogged smack into the AIDS walk where thousands of people were waiting to begin. So, I ran along the south edge of the park and then meandered through You’ve-Got-Mail-ville on the Upper Westside and through Riverside Park.

And by the time I wound back across the Westside, through the park and around the Eastside, I had run 10.15 miles like it was nothing. It’s incredible what good scenery can do for a run!

Plus, it was a fairly even run—between 8:15 and 8:25/mile across all ten—that didn’t exactly start off too peachy. Alongside being tired from the two days of vacation-pace living (well, my vacation pace; poor Neil must love it!), I had been going to bed late and waiting up early, which is my forte, for at least a week. And then my knee started aching before I even hit two miles. So, as usual, I figured I would run a few miles and head back.

The worst that could happen, I reasoned, was that I’d have to start walking or stop to rest. In Central Park. But seeing all of the people (and wanting so badly to be one of them) helped me warm up my creakedy knee, get my legs going and skip gingerly through my run.

And that run was just being a warm-up for our race across the city to get a picture of a fish on the Brooklyn Bridge (Long story short: I won the ‘fish award’ again this month at work and thought it would be cute to take a photo with the fish in a distinctly NY place… but we didn’t really go anywhere distinctly NY the whole weekend. So as time ran out, we dashed across the city to take a photo of the most New Yorky thing there is: the Brooklyn Bridge. And let’s just say, it’s not empty on a Sunday afternoon. But boy did we run long and fast! I think Neil is ready to start his distance training…).

Once my home computer is kicking again, I’ll share photos from Portland and New York… including photos from my cupcake journey. So far, Hudson: 1, New York: 0. Out of all the NYC cupcakes I’ve eaten over the years, most have been fantastic and almost all have looked beautiful. But I cannot tell a lie: the frosting at Main Street Cupcakes has to be the best. Ever. We even hit up Magnolia Bakery, but their immaculate-looking lil’ cakes just didn’t quite beat the MSC.

Granted, I’ve only had one Main Street visit (and 3.5 cupcakes), but I’ll be returning this week to do some follow-up research. It’s the least I can do.

If I Can Make it There, I'll Make it Anywhere

Good luck to everyone who will be running the Cleveland Marathon (half, full and 10K varieties) -- it looks like you might get a whiff of good weather. Won't that be the first time this season (knock on wood)?

I, on the other hand, will be in New York, where we will be reliving the last several days of rainy and cold weather. But it's still New York. And I'm really excited to celebrate Betsy and Dan's engagement and to see Mariel in her element.

It's almost midnight and while I haven't quite packed, I did get out for a 4-mile run this evening after work. I ran it a little faster than I had intended (~7:40/mile), but I swear I'm still coming down from my car rage! It was also colder than usual (it had to be in the 40s with the wind that ate at me for half my run), so I couldn't help but get kicking fast!

Starting next week, however, I would like to get back to midday runs and, perhaps, cycling in the evenings. And I suppose I should return to that little thing called swimming too. You know if has been too long since you've been swimming when you have to use the search function on your blog to find your last workout in the pool.

Despite the rain, I'm bringing my running shoes and crossing my fingers for a convenient break in the weather. Not only should I have more time to get in a jog this weekend (and enough cupcakes for incentive) than I did in Portland, I'm far more familiar with Manhattan than the great Northwest. But I won't expect the runner-driver relationship to be any better than it is here in little Stow, Ohio.

Speaking of this little part of Ohio, I visited a new cupcake shop in Hudson yesterday called Main Street Cupcakes. I was pessimistic (as always) about what caliber of cupcakes Hudson could possibly have to offer.

Well, let's just say that I'm a believer. There will be more details to follow, but when I'm in New York, I'm going to search long and hard for frosting that tops Main Street's. And it will be a tough task. But, you know, someone has to do it!