Church change

I mentioned before that David and I were in the process of switching churches. Sometimes you just have to make a change.
We've attended the same church since before we got engaged, but that was right after Hurricane Katrina hit our area, closing dozens of churches and scattering congregations. It was slim pickings, but we found a church we liked on the West Bank. It was a half hour drive, but it was worth it then.

As the years passed, the church changed. The pastor resigned and moved away; during a year-long hunt for a new pastor the congregation shrunk. Military families were transferred and young people found jobs and moved. By this summer, the congregation was half the size it used to be, and the average age was about fifty! Besides that, the city had been changing, too. Churches reopened or sprung up closer to us, and we started looking around.

Source

We found a church we're happy with, and get this - it's less than a mile away on St Charles avenue. When the weather was (briefly) cool and nice a few weeks ago, we walked to church. Going to church in our neighborhood has had a huge impact on our quality of life - but it has also fostered a sense of community our last church lacked. We were too spread out. This group is a bunch of neighbors, and I like that.

I must say I love having my Sunday mornings back thanks to a closer church and later start to the service. This Sunday I was doing hill sprints on the levee at 9:00 am. By 10:00 am I was in a pew! Now that's something to say hallelujah to!

Death to quads

This Monday our "track" workout was notable for three things:
1. We saw Drew Brees in the park and congratulated him on his new record.
2. Kelly brought cookies. Yeah, baby!
3. I can't walk now.


The workout was...unique. We warmed up running about a mile to the park (or 2 miles, if you ran from home like I did), then ran a 2 mile loop: first mile at 5k pace, second mile "whatever you have left". Then we ran back to the track. So far, so good. That's when it got weird. The next part of the workout was a set of five laps: 300 meters hard, then hurdles, lunges, and side hurdles (going over alternated with ducking under). Then a 100 meter jog and repeat.
(I found these images of over-under hurdles, which is just like what we were doing except the hurdles were all the same height)
Ever since then I have been basically useless on my feet! My quads are on fire and running at any speed is painful. The morning after the workout I eked out ten miles that I could barely manage under 8-min pace. This is the kind of workout that I realize I must need (based on how sore I am after!) but not the kind I want to do anywhere near race day. I'm practically lame.

Now I'm going to go upstairs and shower, then spend ten minutes figuring out how to get back down to the first floor. Fun times.

Running long

This weekend was apparently a fantastic running weekend. Tons of friends and bloggers had great races and I've been loving the recaps! There is nothing quite like a race recap to get me in the mood to run. It's almost as good as spectating - maybe better, since you can get up later.

Saturday I ran my first long run of this marathon training cycle (which will be just that this time, no "marathons as long runs" and such crap this time) and the longest run since the Boston Marathon in April! Insane! What a long break!

My loose plan called for 16 miles, last 20 minutes hard, whatever that means. The last 20 minutes of all long runs are hard, right? We were actually in Bay St Louis, Mississippi this weekend for a visit with our godchildren, so I had an entirely new place to run. The only problem was that I forgot my Garmin! Luckily, I was able to borrow my husband's GPS so I could gauge distance.

Bay St. Louis bridge. Top Right: bridge after Katrina. Top left shows wide running/biking path. 

I decided to break the run up into segments that would allow me to pass the house for water. I don't like carrying a water bottle, and Audubon Park's public fountains have me spoiled. I ran a 4-mile route over the tall Bay Bridge onto the beach in Pass Christian, then turned around to make an 8-mile loop that landed me back at the house. The bridge has several raised sections that gave me some rare hill running, and the area on the beach is always beautiful but very windy. At the house I grabbed some water and half a gel. I wouldn't normally have gel for a 16-mile run, but it had been so long since I'd run this sort of distance that I wanted to play it safe. I ran back on the bridge for a 5-mile loop, then grabbed another sip of water and the rest of my gel and headed to the road along the bay for a fast final three miles. I figured 20 minutes was close enough to 3 miles for my purposes, and I gave myself a break from the inclines of the bridge and most of the wind by running along the bay. It was still very windy, but it was tail and headwind instead of relentless side wind, so it seemed easier. I ran a 6:41, 6:51, and 6:49 (guess which way was the tailwind?!) and wrapped up with a 7:22 average pace. I liked that, but even better, limiting my water stops meant I ran for 1:58 but I was only out of the house for about 2:02. Sometimes I get a little water-stop crazy and waste tons of time.

That run, plus an 8-miler on Sunday, put me at 61 miles to wrap up week one of training. Couple of thoughts on that:
1. I skipped a day and I still hit 61 miles. Who wrote this plan, Caballo Blanco?!
2. I think I'll start thinking of my weeks as Monday to Monday to match Dailymile, my running tracker, instead of Saturday to Saturday like my plan is written.
3. I feel fantastic minus injury pain and weird calf soreness. The calf pain I'm attributing to running further in flatter shoes than I'm used to. My plan for this cycle is to get my miles up there and keep them there - it seems like the injury is bothered more by inconsistency than regular high miles.
4. I might end up cheating on this plan. I realized it has no rest days. What the heck! When am I supposed to sleep in? I skipped Thursday last week and it felt lovely.

Thoughts? Should I build in a rest day?

Foody Friday: Basic granola bars

I like to make these granola bars to bring as snacks to work. I wait for dried fruit to go on sale, then I buy a ton. I really scored last week: bags of dried cranberries were on clearance for $1.14 instead of $5.99!
These are the easiest bars to make...but also to eat. This is the last bar, so all you get is this crappy picture before I eat it up:

About to be history

You need:
1 1/3 C old fashioned oats
1 C quick oats - or whatever combination you have. I mix in some quick oats to make the bars less crumbly.
2/3 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C sugar (I usually use less depending on how sweet the fruit is)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
dash of cinnamon if you want - I add about 1 teaspoon if I'm using apples and walnuts, otherwise I tend to omit it
1 C nuts of choice
2 C dried fruit, mixed - raisins, chopped apricots, etc. If you use a sweetened fruit like dates or Craisins you'll want to adjust the sugar or leave it out entirely
1/2 C honey
1/2 C oil
1 - 2 Tbs water as needed.

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the dry ingredients. Stir in the fruit and nuts. Add liquids and stir to combine. Should be pretty crumbly.

Grease a 13x9" pan and press the mixture into it. Rinse your hands in hot water and press down to pack the dough in.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool almost completely before cutting into bars; wrap individually in plastic wrap.

My Wednesday was rough

1. A dog jumped on me and bit my foot when I was running.
2. Then my shower as ice cold.
3. Because my water heater was broken!
4. And I had to run out of the shower dripping wet to get the phone when security called me because my pharmacist set off the alarm.
5. There were 18 people in line at the post office.
6. And there was an earwig in my swiss chard at dinner.

Kipping

I have started a new sport. It's called kipping, and it's a sport in which you run races Kip Litton has run. For each race, you get a point; for each race Kip registered for but didn't run you get half a point.

My total is 1.5: Kip and I both ran the Thunder Road Marathon, and Kip registered for Boston 2012 (audacity!) and didn't start.

Don't know who Kip Litton is? Read this article. But get a cup of coffee first: it's long and interesting and you'll want to curl up and enjoy it.

Snapshot of questionable races from this blog

What's your Kipping score?

Marathon training commences!

Yes, I know I'm still injured. And no, I don't have lofty goals. But I signed up for the Louisiana Marathon back in January, almost a year before the race, so I am tentatively training for it.
The race is mid-January, so I have four months to get healthy and get into shape,
(If you don't know I've been treating a groin injury since May).

I spent September gradually building miles from zero to 40 per week (except the one beautiful-weather week when I accidentally ran 50 - oops) and continuing my stretch and strength exercises (my self-prescribed physical therapy). I told myself that if I remained at my baseline level of pain by the end of September, I'd go for the marathon.

The pain has not gone away, but it remains low level and easy to ignore: much like it was all last year before I ever saw a doctor. However, most of my running this month was slow and easy, and as recently as last week I experienced a sharp pain anyway. So I'm going to have to be reasonable. If I start feeling pain again when I add speed (assuming I still have speed...) I will have to back off and either quit or adjust goals, depending on the severity.

Speaking of goals, I have nothing exciting to report on this front. I just want to run a reasonable race, maybe a 3:30 or 3:20, and not be in pain. That's for now. If I start feeling amazing of course that will change. And if I start feeling horrible, that will change, too!

In closing please don't ever do anything I do. This is probably a stupid decision. Runners do some crazy things, what can I say?