The unexpected

This has been an amazing running week. I tempo-ed, i speed-eded (is that a word?), i slow runned, i CrossFitted, i did it all. All in all i hit 38 miles. My highest yet. Memorial Day weekend i did a 18 miler and it was soooo wonderful to know my body is capable of going that distance.

After all my marathon is only 12 days away, so why not push hard, right?

Wrong! Double wrong. Pushing hard right before a race is plain stupid.
I didn't listen and now i am paying for it.

Yep the dreaded "I" word : Injury.

At mile 15 on my 18 miler i felt a strange pain on top of my foot/ankle. I stopped and loosened up my shoelace but it kept on bugging me. It forced me to change my stride and i really struggled to run comfortably those last 3 miles. I made it to mile 18 and called it a day.

When i got home i iced and elevated my foot, but it was still pretty tender. Today it feels better but no running, CrossFitting, jumping or sneezing until this thing is all gone.

What could it be? A pulled tendon, the begining of a stress fracture? And more importantly what if it does go away and then resurfaces on marathon day. I don't think i could continue running with that kind of pain. I can't stand the thought of not finishing.

My Own Calcutta today: Don't let the fear of the unknown chase you down.

Back in the sadle

I think i undid 2 to 3 weeks worth of running and CrossFit in about 4 days.
I managed to get in one 5 mile tempo run in the dusty and terribly hot desert.
And mustered up a 2 minute pushup-situp workout before Disneyland.

Late Monday night we arrived back in Utah.
I knew right when i saw the Welcome to Provo, i'd be paying for those 4 days.
Let's just say I was not wrong...

Tuesday morning back to CrossFit.
Tuesday evening back to CrossFit indurance.
3 mile hard run.
and now...

I feel human again.

Note to self: Never go off the bandwagon again for 4 days and stuff yourself with salt & vinegar chips, cheesburgers, and fried chicken. EVEN IF YOUR ON VACATION!

Pictures from Farrah

Click here to view these pictures larger

I'm originally from California. Not many people know this about me. I grew up basking in the southern sunshine state . My brother and i played outside from January to December. The only kind of clothes i owned were one pair of "school clothes" and 10 baithing suits. I had a great childhood.

Each time i return i feel like i'm returning to my roots. I would never move back there. Too populated, too much crime. I'd miss my snow covered mountians too much. But i do love going back to visit. Especially when it's Grandpa Marvin's 80th birthday.

I can't wait to take a "girl" road trip with my mom and my girls. And the biggest surprise of all... we are stopping by Disneyland on the way home. The girls have no idea. When we fasten our seatbelts we will tell them the BIG ONE! I can't wait to see their reaction.

Here are a few pictures from our disney adventures through the years.

Pictures from Farrah

Click here to view these pictures larger

LA Freeway

Rock Canyon

An unexpected late night sleepover (liv's couisin) catapulted me into a 4 hour sleep deprived coma this morning. I woke up at 6am in a groggy fog, but decided to go on my Saturday trail run with my group anyway. I was suppose to hit 20 miles, but talked myself out of it while i was fumbling around trying to find my running clothes.

20 miles is so not happening today. Get a good 10 in and we'll call it a day. Maybe on Wednesday you can try 20.

Good plan i thought. The hills on the LA Freeway are a killer anyway, so the plan seemed smart. The LA Freeway (lactic acid) are a series of trails that head up to the "Y" painted on the mountain just under Brigham Young University. The trail continues into Rock Canyon. One of the most beautiful canyons in Provo (in my opinion).

I arrived at Memorial Park and instantly saw my mentor Bruce Almighty wasn't there. Bruce is just that...mighty. He runs really fast, he runs freakishly long distances (that would be 50 miles in my book), and he doesn't sweat or huff or puff. Come to think of it i don't even think he breaths at all.

He has been very gracious to take me under his marathon wing and i've learned the world from him. I can just hear him now.

"Don't get in the back of the pack. Talk a bit and then break off. You need to think about pace."
or
"Keep your Cadence up... faster... faster."
or
"Time for speed work kid." (he usually says this about mile 9 or 10).

So when good ol' Bruce wasn't there, i thought this could be an easy 10. With my lack of sleep and all the lactic acid hills, i thought this was a perfect day just waiting to happen.

About 2.5 miles into the run, we hit the mountain and start to climb. And who do we see at the top? Bruce Almighty. "Where did you come from?", we all ask. He explains he has been on the mountain since 5:30 am running. Then the dreaded question, "How about that 20 miler today Farrah?"

I am dumbfounded. I had no idea what to say except for, "I'm not feeling it today. Late night." He shrugged, waved his arm in a welcoming fashion and said, "Let's head out then. Farrah follow me."

Oh crap balls... here we go. Pain.

Was it really painful? Yep it was. We did speed, then tempo, then hills. A medley of pain. After about mile 8 we hit 3 hills that just tore me apart. Little sister, Big sister and Grandpa. Grandpa can just... diiiie. I hate that freakin' thing.

The home stretch (mile 10,11 and 12), Bruce explains will be a mix up. Down hill at a good strong pace, then 1 mile at 100% to try to break my mile PR (7:29), then a relaxing pace home. I am scared.

To make a long story short, it was an amazing 3 miles. Not at all comfortable but i broke my PR on my mile. 6:50!!! I am very excited.

My Own Calcutta today is a mesh of things...

1. Living in Utah! I am able to get out of bed, drive 10 minutes and take a run in some of the most beautiful mountains in the United States.
2. Having a running mentor. I wouldn't have been able to push myself to that extent without Brucie.
3. Beating my 1 mile PR. I am loving those sixes.

Channeling my inner cavewoman

I've been laying out all my cards for my upcoming marathon and i seem to be missing something.

Cross training. Check
800's. Check
Hills. Check
400 Repeats. Check
Long runs. Check
Short speed runs. Check
Hydration with electrolytes. Check
Sports massage therapy. Check
A rest day. Check
Proper nutrition. Ummm... kinda' check.

You can see where this is going.

I've started researching the Paleo diet (ugh, i hate the D word). After my CrossFit trainers told me they eat Paleo, i started digging around and found out Dean Karnazes also follows the Paleo diet. The research is indisputable, but more importantly it goes back to our natural god given roots. This is what my ancestors ate. Maybe they were onto something.

Below are some interesting facts about Paleo or aka Caveman diet.

-"70 percent of the calories we eat today come from refined sugars, flour and vegetable oils," says Dr. Loren Cordain, author of "The Paleo Diet," a tome of nutritional philosophies affectionately referred to as "The Caveman Diet" by skinny-jeans-wearing devotees. "We're hard-wired as primates to find something that's sweet. We've taken that sweet and put it together with fat and we call it a donut," he says.
I'm never eating another donut again, when it's put like that.



-Paleo is a simple dietary lifestyle that is based on foods being either in or out. In are the Paleolithic Era foods that we ate prior to agriculture and animal husbandry (meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, etc.). Out are Neolithic Era foods that result from agriculture or animal husbandry (grains, dairy, beans/legumes, potatoes, sugar and fake foods).
There goes my Texas Roadhouse Rolls.

-The most vocal are the group that follows the paleo diet to get maximum athletic performance and health. Art DeVany was an early proponent of this. Then this group got a big boost with the publication in 2005 of The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel. Then the Crossfit: Forging Elite Fitness organization (with its 1,200 affiliates) picked up on it and incorporated the diet into their program. It is also becoming popular among triathletes.
Go CrossFitters!!

-Paleo Chicken recipe... i could so eat this!


Sautéd Orange Chicken with Ginger
---------------------------------
3 pounds chicken legs and/or thighs
pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup orange juice
2 navel oranges, peeled and sectioned
2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp dried basil
4 tsp lemon or lime juice (a substitute for vinegar in original recipe)


Season chicken with pepper. In a large fry pan, heat oil over medium heat.
Add chicken and cook, turning, until brown all over, about 10 minutes. Add
garlic and cook for one minute. Pour orange juice over chicken. Add orange
sections, ginger, lemon/lime juice, and basil. Stir well. Cover and simmer
for about 30 minutes, until chicken is tender.
Adapted from _365 Ways to Cook Chicken_ by Cheryl Sedaker

Well, there you have it.

Should i try it for a week or is it just a bunch of neanderthal nonsense??

Blisters, blunders and bombs

After a bit of a high from a satisfying half marathon, i expected roses and tulips the week after. Yeah right!

I used Sunday, as a normal recovery day. It was magical. I ate, i slept, i shmoosed, i vegitated. I had no guilt (as i usually do) and i felt like i deserved the well needed rest. I woke up a little sore but nothing out of the norm. I did have a blister the size of a silver dollar on my left foot but i didn't think much of it. It was painful but i thought with a day rest it should heal just fine. Yeah right!

Monday morning, i felt as if i could take on the world. My CrossFit trainer said i would. When your CF endurance trainer has a 2 day recovery from Iron Man, you listen. You listen good. So far she proved right. I had no soreness and i felt amazing. I got up at 5:45 am at my usual time and trained with my CrossFit class. My CF trainer yelled to the class, "13.1 miles on Saturday and Farrah is as fresh as a daisy." I said, "Yes sir", as i jerked myself down to run the last 400 m of the morning.

Now the horror... the blister from hell!!! As i was running my last 400m it popped... and it hurt. I came wobbeling home, peeled back my wet sock and wailed in horror. I felt as if my left foot had been cut off. Pain when i went to work, pain when i left work, pain when i got home... pain... pain... pain.

"You are going to have to stop runnin' and put your feet up for a while", my mamma said. "Oki doki mamma let me just tell you one thing, thats like telling me i can't breath or can't live. Let me just roll over and die then!" She stares at me as i have lost my marbles. I hate when non-runners...  don't run! I have a marathon in 5 weeks, and i don't have the luxury of putting my feet up. I think, rest and recovery and this thing is healed in a few days.

24 hours is a few days to a runner, right? So i did my 24 hours of rest and hated every minute of it, then sneaked in a CrossFit class this evening and bombed. My blister hurt, my endurance was crap, and i felt as if i didn't even care.

I guess the week after a high can't always be much higher.

My own calcutta today: Accepting an injury (even if it is an embarrassing one like a blister).

What do you use to prevent blisters??? Pleeeease tell.