berlin marathon training: week 8, halfway there!

Oh man, 8 weeks away from Berlin! Summer training sure is different than the winter!

Monday

Yoga



I worked from home Monday so I had the pleasure of going to Hot Yoga at 630a and then grabbing Acai Bowl from the local healthy place across the street. That is a lot of chia seeds my friends. 



Ok, so Heinen's (the grocery store downtown) sometimes has deals where they package a bunch of ripe bananas together for a dollar or two at the most. So I bought two of these...



Then we went to the Indians game that night! Emma had a delicious box of popcorn that she shared with the fam. I am still thinking about it...

Tuesday

7.8 mi / 8:46 pace

Upper Body Strength



Alright so I finally figured the intervals feature on my Garmin and I wish I bothered to figure it out sooner!!! So this was 12 quarter mile repeats with a quarter mile of rest between each (it was supposed to be 90 seconds rest in between but I kind of screwed up when setting up the run on the watch).  It was awesome! Now I finally understand why people say x:xx for a certain interval pace. I've got some work to do..



Then I finally made my last Sunbasket meal: toasted millet salad with broccolini, bean sprouts, and other veggies. It was very good, just not very filling..but my standards are pretty high at this point.

Wednesday

Rowing



At work, we had a Cleveland Culture Fest with a bunch of local attractions that had booths (Rock Hall, Cedar Point, Cleveland Orchestra, etc) . I enjoyed the pierogis as my appetizer to my lunch.

Then I had tickets to the Indians Game through work and the seats were great!



Sister selfie post Ohio City Burrito bowl?!

Thursday

6 mi / 8:35 pace
Lower Body Strength

 

Tempos make me laugh because they are just very hard. I think I would kick butt at them more in the morning but I'm running out of excuses. Granted it was like 84 degrees out when I ran this but..more work to be done. Really not a terrible run though to be honest. 



Very nice sunset!

Friday

Yoga



Headed to the Cleveland Night Market after my yoga class where the "Deep Stretch" part never happened X_X. 

Basically my goal was just to eat some noodles. So that happened along with some mango papaya bubble tea served in a lightbulb. Alcohol included in that but didn't really taste it (which is a good thing, in my opinion).

It was a very crowded but nice evening!

Saturday

Spinning (inc. Upper Body Strength)



Jenny and I hit up our favorite spinning place for a Linkin Park/Imagine Dragons class and it was awesome! Knowing I had to run 18 the next day, I tried to have more fun with this..but I still sweat a ton. Jenny finished in like a very respectable 5th place and I owned that lucky 13th place :P

Then I fell asleep at 7:20p for the night...

Sunday

14 mi / 8:40 pace
4 mi (race) / 7:42 pace (officially per race)

Lower Body Strength (inc. Hips)

Deep Stretch Yoga



Nothing like the first mile of your long run being in the dark! But the sunrise was nice, and it was actually a bit more humid than I expected, so kinda glad I got this done so early! Regardless, this was supposed to be an 18 miler but we signed up for a 4 mile race downtown later in the morning..



At Progressive Field! You pretty much run 3 miles downtown and then the last mile was up and around and down the stadium, and around the field.



The sweatiest of selfies post-race.



Jenny, Bryan and Emma rocking it!



Emma impressively ran the last mile, lol.



So this was Bryan's first race since breaking his foot, paired with Emma's enduring 1 mile finish, and then hey, I finished 2nd in my age group! 



And then we brunched. So. Good.

berlin marathon training: week 7, most miles yet!

This past week I ran the most miles I've run ever - I don't expect to go higher than this again since one run was kind of on a whim..

Monday

Rowing

Upper Body Strength

I do appreciate rowing as cross training, it is so nice to give the legs a rest. Also I like tuna steaks.

Tuesday

5.7 mi / 8:46 pace

Lower Body Strength

My go to breakfasts as of late are vanilla greek yogurt + muesli + fruit + peanut/almond butter. So easy to get together - overnight oats were just not enough...

We had free 12 minute chair massages at work - it felt amazing!

Probably my favorite Sun Basket dish - so easy to make and I could replicate it on my own. Bowtie pasta with black beans, tomatoes, corn (should be in there but my ear went bad), queso fresco, and a vinegarette sauce.

Also the run went fairly well - had to get it in before work which I've been struggling with getting up early (happened last summer too), so usually I run after work, but it was nice to have a not so busy night.

Wednesday

3.5 mi / 9:00ish pace

Hips + Core

Went on a group run across the bridges downtown. Didn't have time to get my watch going so guessing on the pace. Checked out a popular healthy restaurant in town after hearing all the praise and it did not let me down! I got a Poke Bowl.


(No quinoa!!)

Thursday

8 mi / 8:26 pace

We had Chef interviews at work so that means I got a free lunch...

So good. Though I should not have eaten such different food so close to my run! Got the miles in on the treadmill since it was very hot and humid outside and it was not easy. The treadmill at my apartment isn't really placed well enough to watch the TV so that's rough. 

Friday

Rest

A much needed rest and carb up day. Japanese trail mix from one of the chefs above..not my best picture..

Saturday

Elliptical

Upper Body Strength

Hips

My intention was to get my long run in on Saturday (hence why I ate all the carbs Friday) but the weather forecasted rain/thunderstorms starting at 7:45a and I was glad I decided to postpone it one day. Got some tempo/interval work in on the elliptical.

I also took a photography class! It was class 1 of 2. We learned about the basics: Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO. There were a lot of little things I learned about my camera and now I'm trying to take my camera everywhere now in order to try to learn all of the nuances!

Sunday

20 mi / 9:14 pace

Lower Body Strength (inc. Hips)

Deep Stretch Yoga

Not a bad run. 90% relative humidity with a goal pace of 9:08, so ending up with 9:14 was great. I did not feel exhausted at the end. I tried to keep it really easy for the first half so I wouldn't burn out (not like me - long runs for Milan were very fast the first half, and then a death march for the second half). 

Afterwards, after some strength workouts and a lot of protein pancakes, I headed to the Indians game and enjoyed my lone craft beer (so expensive and all I can handle nowadays is 1 anyway..) and a pretzel. It was a perfect day for a game and a win!

This week - less miles and more stretching on the radar :)

throwback thursday: chester

A long, long time ago.. Linkin Park was one of my favorite bands. To the point where I was in their Fan Club (LP Underground!) for a couple years, met the band before one of their shows, and where I was front row at multiple shows eagerly documenting as much as I could on photo and video. 

 

And of course I was always so eager to see their new music videos, hear their latest music, and felt like I got to know the band through videos and mini-series they would post online. Heck, I have been following each member on social media since then even though I've moved on to different music. 

I was pretty sad to see that today, Chester Bennington, the lead singer, committed suicide. When Chris Cornell passed away under the same circumstances recently, Chester's Twitter was the first one I went to, because I still do follow the band members and what they are up to, and knew he and Chris were still close. As you may or may not know, Chester posted an extremely emotional letter regarding Chris..and it made me wonder how he was going to cope. 

Then on today, Chris Cornell's birthday, Chester took his life. I couldn't really listen to any music in the car on the way home and turned on a running podcast. Then on my run I listened to all Linkin Park on Spotify and reminisced on how many awesome experiences the band provided to me and millions of others over the years.

My first concert was Linkin Park and Story of the Year with my Mom in 2004. We were almost behind the stage but it was awesome. I couldn't wait to see them again.

In August 2004, they came back to Cleveland, and I was able to meet them. I was so nervous! I didn't say much to them and they signed a booklet that I brought. I took pictures with my disposable camera because hey, that was the technology...(Yes, I still have the pictures but their location is a mystery)

In 2007, they came back into town for their Projekt Revolution Tour and it was incredible. I have seen many bands since my Linkin Park days but no one has quite opened a show like Linkin Park did at Blossom that summer. Luckily I was obsessed to the point then that I took many pictures and video, and managed to get the intro on video: 

Almost 10 years ago... Linkin Park Opener in Cleveland...

Other songs:

Shadow of the Day 2007 - Cleveland

One Step Closer 2007 - Cleveland

In February 2008, Jenny and I went down to Columbus to see Linkin Park and it was incredible! Bleed It Out is still one of my favorite songs.

Let's be honest, my favorite moment, which is documented on this video, (which is incredibly embarrassing because I still can't tell after all this time if I'm one of the people screaming), is when Chester came down to us during Crawling and literally came straight to us and grabbed my hand while he was singing/screaming (fangirl swoon still). 

Then later on in 2008, my best friend Megan and I were front row for Linkin Park and Chris Cornell at their Projekt Revolution tour that summer and it was incredible yet again. Seriously, I haven't found a band that has matched intros like this..maybe Muse has come close. Hands Held High is still such a great song, loved this mash-up with Chris.

Once again, this band was you know, my teenage favorite and reflecting today has made me realize what an awesome band they were from performing, to their personalities and how they conducted themselves with fans. 

Thank you for the great music, Chester - RIP

berlin marathon training: week 6, all about that windy city

Welcome back to my Food Journal. 

..I mean Marathon Training Blog.

Monday

Lower Body
6.5 mi / 8:41 pace

Speedwork day, woo woo! Running after work means I have to be very careful how I eat throughout the day. 


Sometimes I kombucha then. I do not recommend this flavor. Stick with what you know (Lavender, looking at you)



I am fairly sure I rocked this workout because of my new rain vest. 



My intention really was to run this on the treadmill but the three treadmills at the work gym were taken...so out to the post-storm summer weather and it worked out in my favor!

Tuesday

Spinning



I brought Jenny to my favorite Cycling class and she loved it of course. And kicked butt! Like 6th place out of 20 in her first class ever? I was 14th or lower because speedwork and lower body work the day prior was probably a good idea.

Wednesday

7 mi / 9:14 pace

Well, well, well. This was supposed to be a tempo run but you know, the whole spinning the day after speedwork and lower body work was even a greater idea. I can't remember the last time I had this bad of a run..



I ate my feelings with Sunbasket - Seared albacore tuna steaks with soft boiled egg, and veggies..

Thursday

Spinning and Core

Not to overdo myself, I went to another Spinning class at a different studio the next day (free thanks to work) though this one was less intense I swear. We ended class with 15 minutes of much needed core.



Now I wasn't a big fan of this Sunbasket meal. Red rice with wilted dandelion chickpea soup.. Very healthy though and it sure tasted like it.

Friday

6 mi Bike

I drove to Chicago Friday afternoon, and got there a bit earlier than anticipated. The race expo was in kind of a terrible spot public transportation-wise so I decided to check "rent a bike in a big city" off my bucket list.



$10 for 24 hours..but this kind of flared up my ankle again... so only rode to and from dinner from the expo..but it was epic.



I have heard so much about Eataly so I decided to check it out. Basically a two story Italian grocery store with multiple restaurants, cafes, gelato, wine samples, desserts... This meal brought me back to southern Italy.


Bike ride selfie. Ok? Ok.



The sunset was gorgeous. Pitchfork Festival was going on so that was some good bike riding music.



I accidentally splurged on my hotel and was treated to lovely views from my room.

Saturday 

Yoga

In order to fulfill my weekly yoga requirement...



I found a free class in Millennium Park! It was really awesome. The instructor was goofy (I'm sure that frustrated the true yogis) and it was very upbeat fun class! There were probably 300 of us.



Afterwards I grabbed a quick bite at The Goddess and the Baker in the Loop.



Keeping it healthy with an Iron Man Omelette and Iced Coffee.



Then not healthy with lunch at the Athenian Room in the Lincoln Park area. I got a spinach pie as an appetizer and it was lovely.



I usually avoid cheese the day before a race but I could not say no to a behind the scenes tour of Eataly's Mozzarella Lab.



It's a lovely Burrata. He showed us how he made mozzarella, burrata (samples were enjoyed), and then we sampled his own rosemary champagne mushrooms, cheese dip and olives. So. Good.



I swear I went back to the hotel after this (well, after shopping). Then I came back to Eataly to eat at one of the other restaurants. This was a good dish but I wasn't as impressed..the noodles were a little too al dente for my liking. It was pretty heavy too but hey, 13.1 was calling..



It was quite the perfect summer day in Chicago.

Sunday

13.1 (ishh?) mi run / 8:22 (ishh) pace



Race recap is in the previous post... 

After the race, I met up with my college friend in the very hip Logan Square area. We brunched at Lula Cafe (trout scramble with dill above), checked out the Farmer's Market, and grabbed coffee. It was a lovely way to finish off my time in Chicago! From there, I grabbed snacks at Target to munch on the drive home.  The soreness was real but totally worth it:)