It’s official: I’m hooked on 5k races!

My second 5k race is under my belt…err…bib, after yesterday’s Frosty 5k race in Burlington. I had such a blast. There was also a half marathon going down…kudos to the brave souls who ran it yesterday!

Unlike my last 5k race a few weeks ago, the skies were blue and the roads were clear. The temperature seemed innocent enough (-4C), but the wind was bone chilling being so close to the lake. Although, once I started running it wasn’t so bad. The cold isn’t as noticeable when you are breathless and busting some booty on the race course!

One thing I love about winter races? The later start time. The race didn’t start until 10:05am, so that meant that I could sleep in until almost 8am feeling nice and rested when I got up.

For some yummy pre-race fuel, I enjoyed a wrap with a banana and a couple spoonfuls of sunflower seed butter.

and a juicy grapefruit for extra hydration.

We got to the race about 45 minutes early, so I took advantage of the free time to empty my bladder. However, the porta potty line ups were huge and not moving very quickly. I waited in line for 20 minutes, before bailing at the last minute so I’d make it to the start line on time. What a tease! Needless to say, holding my bladder throughout the 5k was not fun. That grapefruit clearly put me over the edge…darn you, grapefruit!

There is something to be said about running a race with hundreds of other people (well, thousands if you count the half marathoners); it’s instant motivation and the excitement is contagious, even in the winter.

After a cold wait, it was finally time to begin!

I got off to a slower than normal start, but it ended up being a blessing because I think I would have gone out too hard. I just wanted to sprint to get warm!

The course itself was a simple “out and back” route on a linear, mostly flat course (along Lakeshore) which is perfect for setting a new PR. I love out and back courses because I get to see the faster people coming back (while I’m still going out) and it’s quite motivating to see them zoom by. The first place finisher had a time of 15:29! Crazy.

I felt so happy during the entire race and I think it was probably one of the strongest races that I’ve run, mentally and physically.

Soon enough I was rounding the last bend to the finish line.

See that YELLOW Powerbar “finish line”? When I rounded the last corner, I thought that was the finish line, so I gunned it as hard as I could only to discover that the finish line was actually a couple hundred metres further!

#epicfail

I was now out of breath and really struggling not to stop and walk to the actual finish line. The spectators really gave me my last bit of motivation to keep running.

There wasn’t any smiling for cameras or even looking for Eric. Just me and the finish line, baby!

The real finish line:

…and then I bolted to the nearest bathroom.

My official stats:

Chip time: 22:37

Ranking: 4th in my division (25-29 yr old women), 13th out of 390 women, and 52nd out of 577 runners

Avg pace per km: 4:32 min/km

Avg pace per mile: 7:16 min/mile

I beat my previous 5k race time by just over 30 seconds, so that was a nice bonus. I think the speed work has been helping!

I came home and made a recovery smoothie and then had a hot shower. Hot shower = Best feeling ever after a winter race.

I used this Vega Performance protein powder and added in a big frozen banana and lots of almond milk. Yum.

The nutritional info (click to enlarge)

Sketchie was overjoyed to hear about my race. Not.

So as you can tell, I’m loving the 5k distance. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised because I used to run short distances in track and field and always loved them.

Here are some things that I love about 5k races…

• Shorter recovery time: I’m not too sore after my 5k races (just stiff muscles). After my last 5k race I took a couple days off exercise and then I felt fine to get back into my normal routine. After my half marathons however, I had to take 2 weeks off exercise to recover and occasionally sustained mild injuries. The reduced down time with the 5k is a major plus in my books! Of course, that’s not to say that you can’t get injured running a 5k because you obviously can with any distance.
• Less training time: My 5k training runs are between 3-5 miles, about 4 times per week. I don’t have to spend more than about 25-45 minutes out of my day to train. This is a huge plus when busy.
• Less Prep: I don’t need to bring water, energy gels, or anything else like I do with longer distances. It’s quite effortless to prepare for.

Have you ever run a 5k race or are you thinking about running one some day? For all of you runners: what is your favourite race distance?

If you are looking to start running, I’ve heard great things about the Couch to 5k 9-week running program. If you start now, you can run your first 5k race at the beginning of May! Maybe if some of you have done the C25k before, leave a comment below telling us about your experience. It may help others who are thinking about starting.

Leave it to Old Man Winter to arrive promptly before my first race in almost 16 months.

Impeccable timing, Old Man.

I swear, it was mild and there was no snow on the ground when I booked the race. As soon as I booked, a storm moved in on the weekend and the temperature plummeted. Go figure. I guess that is the thrill of racing during the winter. You never know what the conditions will be like.

After waking up to the blowing snow and a nasty –14C windchill, I was clearly overjoyed to be racing… 

bahaha. Where is that runner’s high when you need one? I swear to you, if I hadn’t blogged about running this race, I probably would’ve bailed on it. Nothing like online accountability.

For warmth, I wore 4 layers on top (tank, long sleeved shirt, pullover, and zip up jacket), one layer on bottom, two pairs of socks, gloves, hat, headband. For “entertainment”, I brought my ipod shuffle and Garmin. For breakfast, I had a smoothie with frozen berries. I figured I could acclimatize myself with a cold drink! No such luck. I also had a ginger tea for the car ride as my stomach was feeling a bit jittery.

One good thing about this race was that it didn’t start until 10am, so I got to sleep in a bit longer than most races.

Thankfully, Eric still wanted to come despite the weather. And he drove us as well. I was already nervous enough about racing on snow-covered roads, so it was nice not to have to drive on them too!

On our way, the snow was coming down quite hard. I started to get really nervous as I’ve never run in these conditions before!

After getting my chip and bib and killing a 1/2 hour before the start, it was finally time to line up. I was freezing my tail off, but decided not to warm up because the rest of the roads were all slushy and I didn’t want to soak my feet before starting. Nothing like starting a 5km race with frozen blood!

This was a special Valentine’s Day race, so they had all the couple’s wrists tied together with a piece of red ribbon! Very cute idea. I debated hand-cuffing Eric to my arm so he’d have to run with me, but with his ball and chain it would probably slow me down. No one needs that.

I was really just jealous that he got to go inside (in the warmth) to wait for me!

As you can see, it wasn’t a huge race! I would guess around 175-200 runners.

No shot gun, no horn, no bell. Just an old-fashioned count down and we were off!

In all of my races, I’ve always tried to start off slower and build speed, but with the 5km most runners seem to just sprint the entire distance, so that’s what I ended up doing too!

I didn’t have a time or pace goal for this race, but I settled into a pace around 7:15-7:45 minute/mile for most of the course. And by settled, I mean I struggled and fought my absolute hardest to stay there. I noticed some runners were slowing down after the 3km mark, so I used that opportunity to pass about 6 or 7 runners throughout the second half of the course. It was a great way to boost my mental stamina, especially when I started to get really tired.

Thankfully, Old Man Winter relented and the snow stopped during the race. I just had to deal with the cold, which was quickly freezing my toes, nose, and fingers, even with all my layers. My nose was also running like crazy. About 3 km into the course, my feet and hands finally warmed up.

The course was a basic flat loop with a couple small inclines. Finally, I turned the last corner and saw the finish line. It was hard to believe that I had been running just over 20 minutes at this point because I felt exhausted!

I couldn’t really find the energy in me to sprint near the end, but I realized that was probably because I was already sprinting! I just maintained my speed and picked it up right before the finish line.

As always, I was so happy to be across that finish line!

Catching my breath!

My official chip time is 23:07!

I was also given a beautiful finisher’s medal!

I’m not sure what it’s made out of, but I’m going to pretend it’s 14 carat gold.

And boy is it HEAVY. It’s easily the biggest/heaviest medal I own.

Who needs jewelry on Valentine’s Day when you have this bad boy?

Shortly after arriving home, Sketchie peeked his head out of his favourite box and said, “I don’t run for anything!”, before curling up for the rest of his afternoon nap.

And just like that, I ended my 16-month racing hiatus. Somehow, it feels like I was never gone.

Next up, the Chilly Half Marathon and Frosty 5k on March 4th. I’m already looking forward to it!

Thank you for your good luck wishes this morning.

We arrived almost an hour early to the race this morning and we were treated with a gorgeous sunrise along Lakeshore.

It was breathtaking.

Possibly the most gorgeous sunrise I have ever seen!

The lake displayed a rainbow of colours.

A great start to the race I would say!

At 7:30am, the 10km got underway. I was feeling a bit nervous at the start line!

I was thinking, ‘Hrmm. This one could hurt.’

I was also cold, hence the pants and jacket!

We were off like a herd of turtles!

The first km is always so fun! Fast, fast, fast. Adrenaline x 100.

You say to yourself, ‘I LOVE RUNNING!’ Wheeeeee.

Then the honeymoon period ends and you start to get tired!

I started to get tired around the 3km mark. My pace was fast and I was breathless. I cranked the tunes and decided to run for the ‘5km’ marker. Once I got to the 5km, I knew it was just another 5km and then I would be done.

This is the beauty of a 10km race! It is just two 5km runs.

Whohoo I made it.

Eric raced to the 5km spot to meet me! He was so proud of himself for getting there in time to see me. It was cute.

But where was I?

He spotted me! It was so fun to see him at the half-way mark.

I was neck and neck with the woman in front of me and the woman behind me for the entire race (and a few men). We kept picking each other off…falling back, moving ahead, falling back, moving ahead for the entire 10km. It was some friendly competition! I love that about races.

In a race, I always try to find people just ahead of me and make it my goal to stay close to them for the entire race. I ended up passing the woman ahead of me around 9km and the woman behind me (pink) passed me in the last 200 metres! I was like ‘oh no you didn’t!’ but I just didn’t have the strength to pass her again. She came up to me after the race and was so sweet and said ‘thank you for motivating me!’ I said the same to her!

My 5km time was around 25:15 mins., which is where I wanted it to be to achieve a negative split in the second half.

I was trying really hard to pace myself and not burn out too soon, although I admit, I was already feeling quite tired by the 5km. Perhaps I was going out too hard, I wondered.

Eric ran with me for about 0.5km along the sidewalk. I was sure he was going to take a horrible spill and smash the SLR. Luckily that did not happen!

Then it was time to part ways so Eric could make it back to the finish line.

Off I went with just 5km to go!

At the 7km marker, I knew I was almost in the home stretch!

‘Just a 3km run left’ I told myself. I was pushing hard and my last 3 kms were fast with a pace of around 4:55-5 min/km (which is around a 7:50-7:55 min/mile).

At the 9km marker I started to lose steam and it was a huge struggle to keep increasing my speed. I told myself ‘you are so much stronger than you think’ to defeat the negative thoughts in my mind.

Finally, the finish line was in sight and I was relieved! I saw the time on the clock and realized that I could make it in under 50 minutes if I booted it hard, so I sprinted hard with all of my might.

Once I saw the time on the clock it was GAME ON.

I was all business.

All my tiredness went out the window and it was just me against the clock. I sprinted harder than I think I ever have in a race before with my pace getting up to a 5:16 min/mile.

Almost there!!

I was SO out of breath. My lungs were in my throat. I could not breathe.

Wheeeeeee!!!

I was so exhausted and out of breath I couldn’t bring myself to smile as I crossed the finish line, but I can assure you I was VERY happy!

I was kind of in a daze for a minute after crossing.

What a rush!

Here are my Garmin stats:

The official stats:

• Distance: 10km
• Chip time: 49:50 mins
• Avg. Pace: 5 min/km or 7:58 min/mile
• 3rd place in my division out of 17 women ages (25-29) 
• 19th place out of 201 women overall
• 81th place out of 364 runners
• I smashed my 10k PR (56:57) by 7 minutes

This race proves to me what a year of training & proper rest and nutrition can do. One thing is for sure, I never would be able to achieve these athletic accomplishments if I was still struggling with my eating disorder, starving myself, and over-training. My body used to be weak & hungry all the time and now it is strong and healthy and happy.

No PR could ever top that feeling.

I know a lot of you reading this are currently struggling with disordered eating and I want to tell you that the fight for recovery is worth every second.

You never know what you are capable of until you treat your body right.

We got home at 9:30am and I promptly mowed down on a burger.

A delicious Lentil-Walnut Burger! I am hooked and already planning my next batch! The garlic and toasted walnuts give this burger a WOW factor.

This gal is off to get some R & R. After 4 hours of sleep, I am pooped! I am more sore from this 10km race than I was for my 3 half marathons…funny how speed work does that!

Enjoy your day.

Happy Labour Day! I hope you are enjoying a lovely day off and are sleeping in right now!

I like to spend my holidays by getting up at 4:15am. I am sick like that.

Let me rewind to last night…

The Dizzy Bizzy Board was stressing me out a bit. Actually, it was giving me the spins and I decided it had to go ASAP.

Really, this was just an excuse for another Michaels trip…

I emerged with new scrapbooking paper and the will to make a less dizzy & bizzy vision board.

I decided that I would use a solid background colour (orange) and then accent with prints. Problem solved.

I have been using these double-sided photo stickers and they work like a charm!

They come right off with no tearing. I also used a photo glue stick for a couple sections when necessary.

Here is the new vision board:

Much more easy on the eyes.

I think it actually matches better with the warm colours + wood!

Side by side:

Some close ups…

I like the ‘Trust’ over the heart!

What a fun project!

Eric also hung this frame in a new spot (it used to be above my desk before the Mykonos painting went up).

The bookcase is still a work in progress, but it is getting there!

Then I went through all my personal and business files.

When I was done, I moved my new 2010 file to an easily accessible spot by the fax/scanner. If it is out in the open I am much more likely to use it!

Then I operated on our printer that all of a sudden decided to stop working this week! Hrmph.

I got it to print black ink, but it is still rejecting the magenta ink that we installed. Very strange. I think we might have to get it serviced. Luckily it is still under warranty.

~~

This morning, I stumbled downstairs at 4:15am and ate some delicious vegan overnight oats that were waiting for me. It made getting up for the race a bit easier.

Pre-Race Hydrating Mango & Strawberry Vegan Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 2.5 tbsp chia seeds <– lots of chia seeds because they are great for runners & very hydrating
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/2 mango, cubed
• 3 strawberries, chopped

Here it is last night when I mixed them up. The mango was so good in this.

I better get on the road so I am not late!

Just a reminder that today is the final day that you can vote in the Portabella Playoff! Thanks for your support everyone.

It’s time for me to run like the wind….Eeeeee.

Greetings! (aka: Hellllloooooooo)

What a day!

So interesting to read all of your comments about your earthquake experience today. The news is now reporting that it was a Magnitude 5.0 earthquake that originated in Quebec from 18 km in the ground. Crazy!

However, I carried on. I had a race to fuel for and lots of work to do!

The theme of my pre-race eats = Green, Carbo, Clean!

Ezekiel toast with curried couscous and basil…

I got up from the table and promptly put some salsa on it. Perfect-o!

With a Green Juice

Note- this is the first time my juicer has ever gotten any juice out of a leafy green before! I have tried juicing kale before and did not get a drop of juice out of it. I’m not sure what I did differently with this spinach, but it came pouring out. I think it might have been due to placing a couple items on top of the spinach (lemon, apple) to hold it in place…

The juice contained spinach, 1/2 a lemon, 1/2 a cuke, and a tiny apple.

Yum!

Dessert was Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Dark Chocolate! LOVE this chocolate so much. My heart goes pitter patter.

8 squares for good measure!

Afternoon fueling snacks were a Liberate Raw + GF Glo Bar…

A TJ’s Raspberry Fruit Leather…

I used to eat fruit leather all the time as a teenager. I’d like to make my own in the food dehydrator, actually! Specifically dried mangoes…oodles and oodles of dried mangoes. Mmmmmm.

….and late afternoon, a Green Monster. I wasn’t sure how to fuel for an evening race, so I figured Green Monsters were always fine with previous races so I decided on that! Can’t go wrong with a monstaaaa.

It contained: 1 tbsp peanut butter, 2 cups Red Russian Kale (that was the mystery veggie from last week’s CSA!), 1 cup hemp milk, 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Amazing Meal Powder, 1 tbsp chia seeds, ice, ice, baby.

It was thick and chewy. :ermm: I might have good news on a new blender coming soon though…

So yes, I was fueled up.

But I was still undecided about the 5-mile race in Toronto. This called for a phone call consultation to OSGMOM. She was less than thrilled for me to be going given all the crazy circumstances today. I also consulted Karly.

She said…

I think there have been enough warning signs today to give yourself permission to not go to this race:
1. Earthquake
2. Crazy protests in Toronto
3. Sweltering heat
4. Torrential downpours/severe thunderstorms expected tonight
5. Possible looming tornado!!!!!

Do you need anymore reasons? :biggrin:

Sometimes all you need is a worried mother and friend to tell it like it is. Reluctantly, I made the call to skip the race, BUT to make things fun for myself, I hosted my own race, much like Caitlin did with the Chickpea Masala 10k Race.

I called it….

The Earthquake Run & Shake 5 Point Oh…No

I didn’t have much time to advertise though, so the turn out was a bit less than expected!

I approached the start line and checked the mailbox while I was waiting. Awesome.

To my surprise, I was in the FIRST Corral, so that right there was a confidence booster. Sadly, I did not see any elite runners though. I think they were ‘running’ late.

Then, the horn sounded and off I went, filled with adrenaline!

Mile 1:

Right from the start of this race I knew it would be a struggle. The air was thick and humid and the temperature was 29C with a humidity of 37C! The air felt like a damp cloth that had been sitting in a steam room. Gross. Luckily I had my Camelbak on me and it was full with COLD water, so I was good to go. The Camelbak has made my runs SO much better. Having water easily accessible on a run is truly amazing. I am used to the extra weight now too so that is not a factor.

• Mile 1 time = 8:15 min/mile
• Avg heart rate = 162 bpm
• Max heart rate =  174 bpm

Mile 2:

The storm clouds rolled in and the wind picked up!

Hence, ‘OH NO’

I knew right then and there that I had to turn back because the storm was approaching quicker than expected. I pictured the ground opening up and swallowing me whole, but I persisted on. I figured if it did, that would be a pretty cool way to kick the bucket. The wind was refreshing, yet it made the run much more difficult. I was able to pick up a bit of speed despite this.

• Mile 2 time = 8:12 min/mile
• Avg heart rate = 167 bpm
• Max heart rate =  174 bpm

Mile 3:

It started to rain during the last 0.5 mile stretch and this was great inspiration to boot it home! I ran fast and I ran hard. I decided a 5k race would have to do! During the last 1/4 mile it POURED rain and I felt like I was in the Amazing Race or something. That, or I was Rocky. Probably Rocky actually.

3 mile race stats:

• Time: 24:17 min/mile
• Avg pace: 8:06 min/mile

[That is not all sweat… it was raining too! But yea, it’s mostly all sweat I guess. lol]

As I approached the ‘finish line’ no one was in sight and amazingly, I WON the race! I even took home this awesome 1st place ribbon!

I can assure you, I will not be taking this bad boy off for a while.

I have some post-race fuel waiting to be consumed. Have a good night!

Good morning!

Sorry about leaving you hanging yesterday. I was moving at such a slow pace after the race…you don’t want to know how long it took me to write Part 1. Eric goes, ‘You are STILL typing?!’ You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I only got through the swim portion! Priceless.

Thank you for all of your encouraging comments…Eric was basically glowing all day long!

Try-A-Tri Race Recap: Part 2

Missed Part 1 of our Try-a-tri recap? See this post.

After the swim, we exited the water through here…

We were quite disoriented when we got out of the water! Eric said he was wobbling all over the place like he was drunk!

Next we, headed to the transition area for T1!

We were SLOW as molasses transitioning. We didn’t want to kill ourselves trying to rush, rush, rush so we just took our time and did what we could. Plus, we were super tired from the swim!

I decided on Saturday that I would not be bringing Dwight to the race. Initially, I was planning on using my Garmin 305 for the bike + run portion, but I decided against it. I wasn’t doing the try-a-tri for time and I didn’t have any goal in mind, so I figured bringing a Garmin along would be pretty futile. I wanted to go out there with my husband and have a good time. Dwight stayed at home.

Eric is 9 months older than me, so every year we are the same age for 3 months! He turns 28 in August.

Our T1 was probably a good 4 minutes or so. Off we went on the bike for the 10km. We saw some friends in the crowd cheering us on and it really boosted our spirits!!

[That isn’t us in the picture, but you can pretend we had spiffy road bikes!]

While I was a bit worried about the bike leg, it actually turned out to be our strongest leg of the race! For some reason, I thought it was going to be much more congested than it was, but there was actually a lot of room on the course.

Also, thank you to those of you who told me some of the biking rules. I had no idea that everything would be single file unless passing (this was GREAT!) and I used the ‘On Your Left’ each time I passed someone. Very useful info. I do believe the race announcer went over these exact rules on the loud speaker, but it was very hard to hear him from the transition area and in the water!

Eric and I had a really strong bike ride. The 10k course was challenging with lots of small hills, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. Our spirits were high on this bike ride. Throughout the entire 10k ride, we alternated taking the lead position between the two of us. Eric would get a burst of energy and blow by me on the left, and then I would get a burst of energy and pass him. It was almost like a little game and made the bike leg very enjoyable! We were also happy because the rain had stopped during our swim, so the roads weren’t slick and wet.

The only downside to the bike leg was not having a road bike. It is much more difficult + slower biking on the road with a mountain bike and we could have been a lot faster with a road bike, but we obviously weren’t going to buy a road bike just for a try-a-tri race. We were actually expecting to see a lot more mountain bikes on the course, but so many people had road bikes (and many of them were VERY high end bikes worth 4k and up!). We drooled over them.

We biked hard and gave it our all. We talked here and there and we kept saying things like, ‘This is so much better than swimming!’

[Not me]

Our time for the bike leg  was officially 32:58/32:59 minutes which is 18.2 km/hr. I was so surprised to find that my legs felt like BRICKS when I stepped off my bike. I guess I have never really pushed that hard on a bike before and my quads were stiff, stiff, stiff.

T2 is a very quick transition because all we had to do was take off our helmets and grab a sip of water.

The run leg was just 2.5 km, so I figured it would go very smoothly!

The first 1.5 km were run on the trails, up this hill and beyond:

Eric and I were in high sprits and we sang the Rocky theme song while going up the hill and laughing. I kid you not.

It was VERY muddy due to all of the rain and we had to walk through many areas so we didn’t wipe-out. Eric also stopped to go to the washroom and I waited for him to return. We were off again through the muddy trails, taking it very slow.

Around 1.5 km, Eric started to have serious doubts.

He kept getting bad stomach cramps and I encouraged him to walk and stretch them out. He said he wasn’t sure if he could finish and he was getting frustrated that people were passing us. I gave him several pep talks during the run and I told him that there is nothing wrong with walking! I kept encouraging him to stop and take a breather, but he was still having a very hard time getting over his mental doubts about his ability.

I tried to use every trick in the book. I got him to visualize how great crossing the finish line would feel, a big post-race lunch, a hot shower, etc. I also said, ‘Don’t forget we are on a secret mission here, we can’t give up now! We are so close!’ After about 10 minutes of the pep talk, we made it to the last hill and we could see the finish line approaching…

[This picture was taken at the end of the race, but there were people all around the finish line cheering!]

Eric said, ‘Ok let’s do it.’ and he got a burst of motivation to finish. I said, ‘Want to sprint?’ and he said yes and then he grabbed my hand for the last 10 metres and we sprinted our little hearts out.

It was a moment.

Unfortunately, we sprinted so fast at the end, we had to slow down suddenly right at the finish line or we would have trampled two people who were also crossing. It wasn’t exactly the photo finish we hoped it would be. However, we are still waiting on pictures so it could be quite funny.

Our finishing time for the 2.5km run was 17:07 mins which is 6:51 km/hr.

I was disappointed to find out that we didn’t get finishers medals for this race! I really wanted Eric to have a symbol for all of his hard work. I think every race should have medals!

Right after crossing the finish line, we saw Steph who was eagerly awaiting her Sprint Relay! She was doing the 30km bike leg for the relay. Her and her team did awesome, check out her recap on her blog!

Eric and I were so happy to be finished, we decided to drop all our stuff off at the car and then head back to the ‘party area’ to get some post-race food. We must have walked another 30 minutes to the car and back! It felt like it took forever.

I had an apple and a banana and Eric had a Classic Glo Bar and an apple.

Then we headed back to the water to see if we could see the Sprint going on, but we missed the action so we headed home to get out of our damp clothes and get warm again! My black jacket was soaked and this blue zip-up was very damp and I was freezing. I was also wearing my wet swimsuit and red biking tank underneath! Brrrrrr. I kept saying, ‘Hot shower, hot shower, hot shower’

One last photo memory before leaving.

Speaking of brrrr…I present to you the doggie wetsuit.

My heart went out to this dog….he did NOT look like a happy spectator!!!

Later in the day, we found out our results and we both had a finishing time EXACTLY the same which was 1:02:58. I was quite surprised that it was just over 1 hour because it felt like a lot longer than that! I finished 31/37 in my age category and Eric finished 19/21 in his category. I think Eric thought he was going to be dead last, so to see that he wasn’t made him quite excited. :biggrin: Overall, we finished 234th (Eric) and 235th (me) out of 276 try-a-tri participants!

We honestly could not have cared less about our time in the end, it was the experience that mattered to us. We both knew that we had taken ourselves far, far out of our comfort zone to do this race and that felt really good.

Later today, I will be showing you everything I ate post-race. Have a great day!

Good evening!

I’m glad you enjoyed today’s 1,000 words post! Oh graphs, we go way back. All the way back to my university days. I used to make so many painfully boring graphs while doing psychology research, it was really fun to just be able to make a silly graph. Ahhhh, my dear readers what would I do without you?

When I showed Eric the graph he laughed and said I should do one from his perspective!

In other news, today was a rather liberating day on the work front…

Whew…these bars are very high maintenance, but definitely worth the effort. I think they are my favourite flavour now (close seconds are Empower and Endure).

Other highlights of the day included welcoming two fabulous team members to Glo Bakery and being interviewed for a future VegNews article. Good stuff.

After work, I was yearning for some delicious Mexican food and nothing else would do. I decided to see if I could whip up a super quick vegan enchilada, inspired by Susan’s Summer Squash Enchiladas that I saw on her website last week. I didn’t have half of the ingredients that she used, so I decided to just wing it and use whatever I had. The result was actually really delicious…and just a half hour start to finish.

I thought it was going to be a flop, but ohhhh was I wrong.

Time-Crunch Vegan Enchiladas

Inspired by Susan’s Summer Squash Enchiladas.

Ingredients:

• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 1.25 cups enchilada sauce or pasta sauce
• 1 bell pepper, color of your choice (I used orange)
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp mild chili powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt, to taste
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp lime juice (optional)
• 1.25 cups cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 whole grain tortillas
• Vegan cheeze sauce for the topping: (4 tbsp hummus, 1 tsp or a bit more milk, 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Throw chopped onion into a large pot and heat until caramelized, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add in the chopped pepper, zucchini, beans, and spinach and cook another few minutes until the spinach wilts. Add in the pasta or enchilada sauce, nutritional yeast, sea salt, chili powder, and optional lime juice and stir very well. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Take a baking dish and pour about 1/2 of pasta or enchilada sauce onto bottom of dish. Now take 2 tortillas and fill with mixture. Wrap tortillas and place into dish, fold side down. Cover the tortillas with the remaining enchilada veggie/bean mixture and place into the oven uncovered at 350F for about 18-20 minutes. While it is cooking prepare the vegan cheeze sauce and then drizzle it over the enchiladas before serving. Makes 2 servings.

After adding pasta sauce and seasonings…

Sauce on the bottom of the dish:

Fill the tortillas…I enjoy Food 4 Life Ezekiel tortillas. Zap them in the micro for a few seconds to get them soft before rolling.

Place into dish with fold side down…

Cover with remaining mixture…

Cook for 18-20 minutes at 350F.

The vegan cheeze sauce brings this dish from wow… to YOWZA!

Is this real life?

Why yes, yes it is.

This also marked the first time I have ever made enchiladas! I can’t believe how easy it was. For some reason I always imagined them to be difficult to make. This recipe is a keeper. Onto the recipe page it goes. I’m packing up some orders and then the couch awaits my bum. Bliss.

Good evening!

Today felt never-ending even though it was pretty much a typical day in the bakery.

My muscles felt progressively stiff as the day went on and I had lots of Glo Bars to make.

If yesterday was the running half marathon, today felt like the baking marathon.

I got it done, thankfully! I knew I had today to get caught up on all my orders today because tomorrow is a very special day in the bakery- (Gluten-free + Raw Glo Bars for sale at 9pm EST).

Around 7:30pm, I thought of you all.

I think of you a lot. Did you know that?

I think about what kinds of foods I can come up with to interest you. I was soooooo tempted to throw a stinkin’ veggie burger on the skillet and call it a night, but I wanted to create. I think if it wasn’t for this blog I would eat the same 3 meals everyday! Actually, I know I would because I totally used to.

I opened the fridge and I realized we had no vegetables to speak of except for 2 lone red peppers.

It was a sign.

This dinner was inspired by my wedding dinner on Saturday night which was a gorgeous curried rice stuffed pepper:

I love stuffed peppers.

It’s like Christmas morning when you cut one open. As Forest Gump said, You never know what you’re gonna get.’

Well, technically I knew, because I made this one, but we can pretend…

Easy & Delicious Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 2 red peppers
• 1.5 cups uncooked lentils (estimate only!)
• 1 cup pasta sauce
• 3-4 tbsp sweet BBQ sauce
• Sea salt, pepper to taste

Directions: Cook lentils according to package directions. While the lentils are cooking, preheat the oven to 350F. Cut top top of the peppers off and carefully remove the inner seeds to your liking. Pop the peppers onto a baking sheet and into the oven to pre-cook for about 20 minutes while the lentils are cooking. Remove the peppers from the oven and set aside. Rinse the lentils with a colander and rinse out the pot that you cooked the lentils in. Place the drained lentils back into the pot and add the pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, and seasonings. Stir well. Taste. Adjust sauce if necessary. Fill the two peppers with the lentil mixture and place them carefully onto the baking sheet. Place into the oven for another 15-30 minutes checking it every 10 minutes or so. Peppers are ready when they have some character to them.

Lentils are quite the superfood boasting approx. 19-25 grams of protein and 18-22 grams of fibre per cooked cup, depending on the type you use. They are also very high in folate, iron, Vitamin B1, copper, and tryptophan. Tryptophan is thought to enhance relaxation and sleep, soothes nerves and anxiety, and reduces carbohydrate cravings.

I was feeling mighty relaxed after this meal too!

Chef Eric prepared the side of raw carrots and hummus…(and they tasted better because he prepared them and not me). Score.

Christmas morning…!

Eric proclaimed this was the best stuffed pepper he has ever tasted! And then he said, ‘Well, I think I have only had two stuffed peppers in my life, but this one is good.’

I’ll take it.

Race Quirks

Do you ever wonder what I think about during my half marathons? No? Didn’t think so. I am going to tell you anyways.

Yesterday during my half, I thought about what my race quirks are and this is what I came up with…

1. I always have to scream ‘yawhoo’ when the gun/horn goes off at the start of the race. I’m a 10 yr old like that.

2. I have never used an on-course porta-potty, only before and after the race.

3. I play 3-5 ‘power songs’ over and over and over during the race. These power songs change each race. Ninety percent of the songs on my Shuffle are not worthy race songs, meaning that they don’t pump me up enough to even play. Apparently, I’m quite the race song connoisseur.

4. I always clap and yell ‘good job’ to the runners in the lead (that is, if the course is a loop or out-and-back and they pass by in the other direction). In yesterday’s race we saw the lead women heading back a couple times during the loops. I always cheered for them and I even gave one a ‘side-five’. In my defense, the girl ahead of me did it first.

5. I thank every single volunteer that cheers me on or hands me a cup of Gatorade. I also thank some of the spectators that cheer for me. Sometimes it is a thank-you or sometimes I am so tired I just mouth the words and crack a sad, sad smile, but either way I try my best to show my gratitude, especially in the last few km’s when I need those words of encouragement so badly. I also think that positivity breeds more energy. When I smile and say thank-you, a bit of my pain is taken away. I will never forget the elderly volunteer lady who told me I had a beautiful smile during my 10 mile race. It carried me several minutes to the finish.

6. If I see someone struggling on the course, I ask them if they are ok. I saw a girl yesterday who stopped to walk and looked like she may pass out. I stopped to see if she was ok. I would hope that others would do the same for me!

7. While I consider myself a ‘happy runner’ in races, internally, I swear and curse like a truck driver. If you were to hear some of my inner dialogue while running a half, it would be similar to the Jerry Springer show or a Pussycat Dolls video. I curse, I get angry, and I do the MAD FACE when I see a hill approaching. It ain’t pretty. Note- mad face –> :angry: I also made this face upon seeing creeper on bike.

8. However, I always ham it up for the on-course photographer. The on-course photographer serves one purpose- a few seconds of sheer entertainment where I am not thinking about how tired I am. I give a thumbs up and a smile. I realize this looks extremely nerdy, but I get stage fright and can’t come up with anything else. The thumbs up works, and I use it. During my first 10k race, I threw my arms over my head and cheered for the photographer, but this used up way too many energy reserves. Rookie mistake. A thumbs up is energy efficient and practical. I highly recommend it. However… my right arm is oddly sore today….

9. I slow down going downhill and speed up going uphill. I don’t understand it, so I don’t expect you to either.

10. I do not run and drink at the same time. Much like I do not run while carrying scissors, I don’t expect to drink fluids while gasping for air and running and survive. I tried it once and I almost coughed up a lung. [However, I highly recommend drinking while running if you are using a Camelbak!]

11. I wear the same OLD ‘lucky’ white Nike hat for each training run and race. I wash it occasionally and the dirt doesn’t come off. I wear it anyways. I got it 9 or 10 years ago. I have perfectly good hats sitting in my closet, but for some strange reason I do not wear them.

12. I sing. Out loud. If you ever see me on a race course and you see me singing to myself, you know I am in a very bad, bad place. I did this around mile 11 yesterday. It wasn’t pretty.

13. I talk to myself out loud. I repeat my mantra. I say random things like ‘strong, strong, strong, strong, strong’ and adopt obnoxious breathing patterns similar to those annoying guys in gym weight rooms.

Do you have race quirks or just exercise quirks in general? Do you have any systematic ways of doing things or superstitious beliefs?

Happy Memorial Day to my American readers! I hope you are enjoying a lovely day off.

Thank you for your amazing comments on yesterday’s half marathon. It means a lot to me to have your support! Also, thank-you to a couple of you who suggested contacting the race director about my experience with the man taking pictures of me on his cell phone. I emailed the director last night and told him/her about my experience. I also asked if there were ways that next year’s race may be made more safe either by a closed course, more police officers on course (there weren’t many!), or some other method. Hopefully it opens the dialogue on the topic! I am anxious to see what they say and I will let you all know.

Now onto yesterday’s post-half marathon delicious eats!

As I mentioned in the race recap, I had a high protein Renew Glo bar on the drive home and lots of water.

Shortly following my ice bath, I had lunch!

I was craving my cheezy savoury oats in a huge way!

The recipe can be found here. I added extra turmeric spice to this batch because it acts as a natural anti-inflammatory.

Boom.

My toppings included: 1/2 cup pasta sauce, 1 cup black beans, Mary’s Crackers (crushed), 1/4 cup red pepper hummus, lots of sea salt, and ground pepper. It was sooo good!

I made sure to add a lot of salt to the batch because I sweat out a TON of salt during my race. My whole body was covered in salt!

I also had a RAW + GF Glo Bar, which by the way, go on sale tomorrow night starting at 9pm EST! I will only be selling about 20 batches to begin with because they are very time intensive.

Then I proceeded to nap for about 45 minutes! Felt sooo good.

After the nap, I had a chocolate milkshake, which consisted of a scoop of Chocolate Amazing Meal Protein Powder and 1 cup of almond milk.

During the afternoon, I also snacked on an unphotographed apple with cashew butter.

Dinner was a HUGE sweet potato (the size of about 2 regular ones) that Eric BBQ’d on the grill wrapped in tin foil. It was awesome! I drizzled it with BBQ sauce and Navy beans. I had a 1/2 cup of salsa on the side. It was so delicious! I seasoned with sea salt and black pepper.

It was such a random dinner, but I loved it so much.

Sweet potatoes on the grill are amazing…highly recommend it! I zapped them in the micro for about 5 minutes before hand and I think they took about 20-30 minutes on the grill wrapped in tin foil.

Then we ate copious amounts of my 3 ingredient homemade chocolate covered raisins (well 4 ingredients because this batch was the rice crisp batch!) while watching The Proposal for the umpteenth time. I had my race chocolate- just several hours after the fact! :biggrin:

We probably had half a batch between the two of us! I did not move from the couch all night and it was glorious.

How am I feeling post-half marathon?

I am feeling pretty good and not quite as sore as my last half-marathon race.

I attribute this to two things:

1) Icing on the drive home

2) Ice Baths for 10 minutes- I had another ice bath when I got up this morning and one as soon as I got home yesterday. Please note that ice baths should never go below 50-55F, but generally I have mine around 60F. Even just cold baths with no ice are supposed to help! Bring in a thermometer into the tub to be sure and always consult with your doctor before doing so.

What is sore/hurting?

I do not have any concerning pains, but I do have lots of little things…

• One huge, raw blister on my right heel. This happened in mile TWO and I had to endure it for the entire race. It was sooo painful. It was my fault though- I wore different socks than usual! Rule of racing- nothing new on race day- oops, my bad.
• Small blister on left heel.
• Very mild chafing from my Camelbak where the strap rubbed. I meant to put on Bodyglide before the race but I forgot.
• Muscle tightness all over, especially in groin, quads, arms, back. Lots of stretching and I am icing sore spots a few times a day.
• Swollen top of right foot. I tied my shoelace too tight and the top of my right foot was VERY sore yesterday. I made sure to ice it. The swelling has gone down 50% today and it isn’t as sore, but it is still swollen slightly. I expect it is nothing serious and should be fine in a couple days.
• a BRUISE from my necklace that I wore! I got a small bruise from the pendant (it is fairly heavy) bouncing against my chest during the run. Weird, huh?

Here is the necklace I wore (it says Taurus on it)

What about you- what minor things and major things have you experienced following a race? Anything weird or something that surprised you?

The thing that surprised me the most was the bruise from my necklace. Live and learn I guess!

I have been baking since early this morning and will be baking all week, so I don’t have the luxury of physically resting today, but I am hoping that my activity will get the blood flowing and expedite the recovery process!

In tonight’s post I will be talking about race quirks…see you then! :kissing:

No matter how little sleep I got or how many doubts floated through my mind this morning, I said what will be shall be and I forged on ahead!

This was another one of life’s great experiences and I was going to embrace it with open arms! You only live once (YOLO!).

Oddly enough, I ended up raising almost the same amount of money for the Canadian Cancer Society as I did last year, so I wore the same tank top that I made last year for my 1st race ever (a 10k). Every time I felt like giving up, I thought about all of the money that we raised for such a great cause. I knew I couldn’t quit!

Eric and I headed out just before 6am this morning. We had just under 1 hour’s drive to the race site. We got to the race super early (over 1 hour early!) so we had lots of time to kill. It was actually kind of nice to be early for once, because for my 1st two half marathons we were caught in bad traffic and almost late. It was nice to be relaxed. The race experience is also much better for the spectator when they don’t have to listen to you panic! :biggrin:

I don’t know what I would do without Eric’s support at my races! He always calms my nerves. [Side note- I can’t believe we are doing the try-a-tri next weekend. GAH.]

Then I met the lovely Sarah, who traveled all the way from New York, and we chatted away until just before the start.

It was the perfect temperature outside- around 17C/63F, however the sun was quite hot and it heated up fast. Luckily this half marathon was run on a trail in Sunnybrook Park and had lots of shade.

I also met some other ladies, but we didn’t get pictures together! Nothing like meeting blog readers in the porta potty line! :biggrin: I was hoping an all women’s race would mean better smelling porta potties, but no such luck! :sick:

Sarah and I were in the 1st corral, which was an expected finishing time of under 2 hours. It was Sarah’s 1st half marathon and I was really excited for her!!

Sarah and I said our final goodbyes!

It’s all fun and games until mile 2!!!

We were off!

I think I saw more Lululemon clothing items in one place than I ever have in my life!

Eric said, ‘Come back in one piece, OK?’

The course:

The course consisted of 3 loops. Because of the loops I got to see my friends during the race which was really fun! I saw Sarah, Hilary, and Vanessa along the way! It is always nice seeing a familiar face when you are needing a lift.

Mile 1: was awesome like it always is! Mile 1 is always the easiest. I have loads of energy and it is pure excitement for the race ahead. Sarah and I chatted during this mile and then we lost each other and I was running solo. The start was very quick since we were near the front and there wasn’t much of a lag at all. It only took me about 6 seconds to cross the start line.

Mile 1 time = 8:24

Hill climb = 66 feet

Mile 2: I don’t know what happened, but I was fighting back tears during mile 2. I was feeling very overwhelmed about how many miles I had ahead of me. I also felt under-trained and my groin started to twinge and feel really tight. My head was not in the game and I was a bit scared.

Mile 2 time = 8:00

Hill Climb = 104 feet

Mile 3: Mile 3 dragged on and on. I couldn’t believe that I had to do 3 more ‘3 mile runs’ – plus a mile! I thought back to my previous half marathons and I think I found that the first several miles were among the most difficult. I have a tendency to defeat myself in my mind before I even get there. I start thinking, ‘Oh my gosh it is only mile 3 and I have 10 miles to run, how will I ever do it?’.

Mile 3 time = 8:18

Hill climb = 121 feet

Mile 4: Mile 4 was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I had some strange man approach me on a bike taking a picture, what looked like, to be of me. I thought to myself, ‘Oh he must be just taking a picture of a lady behind me.’ and I didn’t think much of it. I had other things on my mind!

Mile 4 time = 8:22

Hill climb = 88 feet

Mile 5: This was the mile when I knew without a doubt that it was the right choice to bring my Camelbak. The water stations weren’t very frequent (well, to me anyways!) and I definitely needed the extra water. It was so nice to be able to take a sip whenever I wanted to. I still stopped at every water station and fueled up on Gatorade. I looooooove Gatorade during a race! It makes my heart go pitter-patter when I taste it. :heart:

Mile 5 time = 8:31

Hill climb = 146 feet

Mile 6: My 10k time was (unofficially): 51 minutes. I was very happy with this time, but not happy about the fact that I had to run more than twice the distance before I was done! Mile 6 also began a series of short hills over the next few miles. I knew that my pace was slowly starting to get slower over the past few miles and I wondered if I would be able to keep my pace or not.

Mile 6 time = 8:38

Hill climb = 192 feet

Mile 7: I saw the SAME creepy guy on his bike near me taking another picture!!! I started to freak out a bit, but I convinced myself that he was taking a picture of someone else behind me. While I loved this course in Sunnybrook Park, I did not like the fact that it was open to the public. There were a few questionable men watching this all women’s race from park benches.

Mile 7 time = 8:51

Hill climb = 174

Mile 8: You are stronger than you think, you are stronger than you know. Over and over and over. I wanted to cry. I have such a love/hate relationship with half marathons. One mile I love it and the next mile I hate it. I pushed myself with every ounce of strength I had in me, but I knew I still had 5 miles to go.

Mile 8 time = 8:53

Hill climb = 167 feet

Mile 9: This mile was the toughest in terms of the mini hill climbs. I was cursing under my breath every time I saw a hill approaching. The course was coined a ‘FLAT course’ and while it was an easier course than my two half marathons last fall, it still had some challenging hills in it. Luckily I had a lot of training on hills so my pace didn’t slow down much.

Mile 9 time = 9:04

Hill climb = 209 feet

Mile 10: I could not believe this but the guy on the bike RETURNED somehow and he was right beside me taking a picture of me with his cell phone! So creeped out at this point. He was literally 3 feet beside me on his bike holding up his camera on his cell phone. This time there was no doubt in my mind that he was taking a picture of me. I was super creeped out and I made a beeline to the closest man who was working for the race and I told him about the man on the bike. He seemed quite concerned as was I. Hopefully they kicked him off the course! It really upset me and it kind of threw me off my game for a while. 

Mile 10 time = 8:44

Hill climb = 136 feet

Mile 11: This was a great mile. I felt my strength return and I was sooooo happy I only had 2 miles and a bit to go! Rest was near! The volunteers, while all amazing, were especially amazing near the end. They kept saying encouraging things like, ‘WOW you are doing so great only a few k’s to go!’. I thanked each and every one of them.

Mile 11 time = 8:36

Hill climb = 158 feet

Mile 12: Just like in my previous two half marathons, mile 12 (and 13) were the HARDEST of the entire race. Running is such a mental sport and I find that I kind of lose my marbles during the last mile. It seems to drag on and on and I stopped frequently to walk. I kept telling myself over and over, ‘Just keep going you can walk when you are crossed the finish line!’ and it helped a bit, but I still struggled quite a bit. I knew I was so close to setting a new PR and pushing just a bit harder could be the deciding factor.

Mile 12 time = 9:11

Hill climb = 166 feet

Mile 13: Was this really my LAST mile?! I saw the chocolate station and I almost hurled. I seriously could not fathom the thought of eating a chocolate bar at that time! No one was taking the chocolate at all. There is something wrong about that picture too- women in a women’s race refusing chocolate! It’s a crime, I know. I think that just goes to show how determined we were to finish!

I repeated my mantra ‘You are so much stronger than you think. You are so much stronger than you know.’ I had to stop and walk quite a bit during this last mile and I thought it would never end…

Mile 13 time = 9:01

Hill Climb = 130 feet

Mile 13-13.1(13.3?): My Garmin told me that the course was actually 0.2 miles over because my watch read 13.3 miles when I crossed the finish line, and not 13.1 miles. I thought I only had 0.1 miles to go and it turned out to be 0.3 miles which is a big difference when you are pushing your max 110%.  I must not have been running a ‘straight’ path.

Regardless, I rounded the turn and I saw all of the people lined up and I said, ‘THIS IS IT ANGE, RUN LIKE HELL!’

The crowd was awesome and gave me all the motivation I needed to run as fast as I possibly could! I started to sprint fast and the crowd cheered loudly. My speed got around a 6 minute mile. There were no other women around me so I felt like this was my moment.

It was probably my strongest finishes of all 3 of my half marathons. In my last half marathon, I struggled BIG time in the last 500 metres, but for this race I crossed the finish line flying at top speed! There is no better feeling.

I thought to myself, ‘Oh you are going to feel this tomorrow!’

Race stats:

• Distance: 13.1 miles (Garmin read 13.3 miles)
• Chip time: 1 hour 55 mins. 10 secs. (New PR)
• Placed 16th out of 105 women in my age group
• Placed 111 overall out of 1129 women in the race
• Avg heart rate: 173 bpm
• Max heart rate: 182 bpm (in the last few hundred metres)

Shortly after crossing the finish line…

I saw Eric and he came running over! He was so excited and he kept saying YOU DID IT! Nothing is better than when you think someone truly *gets* how hard it was and how much you pushed yourself to your limits.

Previous half marathon times:

• 1st half marathon- Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon (Sept. 27, 2009): 1:57:45
• 2nd half marathon-Goodlife Fitness Toronto Half Marathon (October 18, 2009): 1:56:33
• 3rd half marathon- Toronto Women’s Half Marathon (May 30, 2010): 1:55:10

How awesome are these girly medals on a sports chain? I love that it is a piece of jewelry!

I want to thank all of you guys for your support through my training and charity efforts! :heart:

The drive home was enjoyed with an ice bag and a High-protein Renew Glo Bar! I don’t think I have ever eaten a Glo Bar so fast.

Icing on the drive home = amazing idea.

This medal is dedicated to all of YOU! I can’t wait to wear it on my training runs.

When we got home, I had an ice bath, a 45 minute nap (Eric and Sketchie had a 4 hour nap, LOL), and of course lots of yummy food.