Running Update and Week 11 & 12 of NYC Marathon Training

On Thursday September 1st, I started feeling pain in my left Achilles.  This would be 1 day after running mile repeats at sub 8 minute pace. I then attempted to run on Saturday and only made it 9+ miles before I had to walk.  I took three days off then went to Physical Therapy on September 8th.  I got checked out and was told I had Achilles Tendinitis and that I would be OK. 

Source

Where it says in the picture "Achilles tendon with inflamation" is exactly where a little bump has developed and where I feel the most pain.  I have a feeling it flared up due to my speed workouts.  I love my speed but going from running 9:30s to sub 8 minute pace and sometimes all the way down to 6:30 pace might be too fast.  BUT SOMETIMES I MISS BEING FAST!!! I was a sprinter before all this crazy marathon stuff! But anyway, more on that in a minute.

I went into PT, the Wednesday after Labor Day. I had pain when I walked and a beautiful bump of inflammation. It especially hurt going down stairs but I iced and went to PT like it was my JOB last week and on Sunday September 12th, I ran my first 20 miler of my NY Marathon training.  It hurt, I'm not going to lie.  But once I got past 5 miles, I was able to ignore it.  I ONLY RAN ON THE STREET.  Yes, I realize this isn't safe, but the ups and downs of sidewalk could effect the pain. In general, I was pretty happy with how I was feeling.  Even running 12 miles under 9:30 pace and 5 under 9:10 pace. The last five miles, I was holding on for dear life, much like the other two twenty milers I've run previously. But I finished the 20 and then hobbled into Physical Therapy on Monday of this week.  Yes, I said hobbled.  I couldn't even put my heel down, I was in so much pain. Again, my physical therapist was confident I would be okay which made me confident. Today is Friday and I am so much better.  The pain is definitely still there and so is the beautiful bump/inflammation the tendonitis has caused. But I know I will be fine, I just have to adjust my training plan, which is the hard part. My plan as of now is to do my long run on Monday AM and count it on this weeks mileage.  I only have to do 12.  Then PT and cross train all week again and a long run (18+)again on the 25th.

I ran 20 miles last Sunday.  20 mile weeks are usually when my Weekly Mileage is at 40. My weekly mileage last week was 20. My weekly mileage this week (so far) is 0. It's scary but I have to believe that its the long runs that get you to that finish line not the 5 milers you do throughout the week. I do hate seeing my weekly mileage so low though. 

Random Thoughts-

I find myself getting slower during marathon training.  Am I alone on this?  There was a day when all my mile splits were under 9 when I was training for halves and 10Ks (before I blogged).  Now if I see under 9:15 I think that's impressive.  I have to be honest.  I miss being faster.  I feel slow.  I miss running 5Ks and 10Ks.  A lot of people do shorter races during marathon training... if I am going to spend the money, I want to PR but all my PRs are way faster than I think I could run right now.  Something to look forward to next year I guess. (8:16 for 9.3 miles- how did I do that??)

Also random thought... I can run 20 miles, but I complain walking or going up or down stairs.  I take the elevator all the time.  I park as close as I possibly can to wherever I am going.  I worry about "wasting my energy" on anything other than running.  I walk slow.  I think about how I'm going to step down from the sidewalk to the pavement. My brother wants to go hiking tomorrow and I'm worried about how that will effect my long run.  When did I become so crazy?

And one more note... I've gotten a few emails asking about my injury and how my Physical Therapist is still allowing me to run.  Well here's the thing.  I go to a Physical Therapist who GETS IT.  He's a runner who believes in working through injury and pain safely and effectively.  And if I have absolutely ZERO chance of rupturing my Achilles, why wouldn't I train through it?! But training smart.  I have no set "training plan" anymore.  My runs will be based week to week.  This week I cross-trained M-F with Physical Therapy M-W-F which included Ultrasound and Stim.  I iced close to 10 times a day.  And I'm confident the pain will go away.  And even if it doesn't completely, I will have so much adrenaline race day it won't matter. I still wish more than anything I had run this race last year and not deferred... so if you are in a similar situation, I'm no doctor, but I say RUN! Happy Friday!

CSA Week 11 & Easy to Make Meals!

Last week, I picked up CSA at City Hall and got these delights:

Husk Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Sugar Plums

Mcintosh Apples

Romaine Lettuce

Corn

Summer Squash

Zucchini

Cucumber 

...and

Spaghetti Squash!

I used a lot these ingredients in lunches for the week.  I cooked up some packaged vegetable ravioli's and sauteed the summer squash, corn and tomatoes.  I also used the Romaine in salads for the week.  But one really original idea I had was to to make Zucchini Boats.  Yes, I know that's not original... but what about stuffing it with spaghetti squash, tomato sauce, cheese and breadcrumbs?  Sounded pretty good to me.

I cooked the Spaghetti Squash the day before.  I get home late so I use the prep-ahead method as often as I can.  I cooked the Spaghetti Squash by puncturing holes in it and baking it in a baking dish at 375 for an hour. Once cool enough to handle, I cut it in half, removed the seeds and used a fork to shred the pulp into strands. Put away for the next day to make...

 Zucchini Boats stuffed with Tomato Sauce, Cheese and Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:

2 cups of strands of spaghetti squash

1 cup of tomato sauce (half of your favorite jar)

1/4 cup Monterrey jack cheese

1/8 cup of Parmesan cheese

sprinkling of panko bread crumbs

Instructions:

Cook the Spaghetti Squash, and remove strands.  Using a knife, score the inside of the zucchini and then use a small spoon to scoop out the zucchini flesh, leaving a 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick shell.  Place the zucchini shells, spray with cooking spray and salt and pepper and bake for 15 minutes. 

 While in the oven, mix the spaghetti squash and the tomato sauce together.  Then take out the zucchini and stuff each one with the spaghetti mixture.

Sprinkle with cheese and panko bread crumbs.  Add more Parmesan to the top.

Bake for twenty minutes or until slightly softened and the cheese has melted. Enjoy with an extra side of 'Spaghetti.'

I loooooved this dish!  And the best part was I got to eat it again for lunch.  I love leftovers! This was seriously SO easy- anyone can make this!

In addition, I also made two other fantastic dishes.  I was a little unorganized when I went to the grocery store this weekend.  Gasppp I didn't have a plan.  I was waiting for takeout on Friday night and the restuarant was conviently located next to a Whole Foods.  So I decided to get my grocery shopping done early.  Plus, I love me some Whole Foods!

Right away I saw Fresh Figs.  I've been looking for these everywhere because I have been dying to recreate the pizza I had at Anthem.  And Susie posted a pretty amazing flatbread recipe that I tried to recall off the top of my head.  So I got the ingredients for that and made the recipe up as I went along- whole wheat pizza dough, figs, fig jam, arugula, tomatoes, cheese, and proscuitto.  I also picked up Pre-Package Garlic and Basil Polenta and some Tofu.  But lets start with the Figs! This recipe ROCKED!  Another easy, must try : )

Ingredients- We Are Not Martha style

Fig, Arugula, Prosciutto Pizza

Ingredients:

15 Fresh Figs, Cut into pieces, tops discarded

1 Tomato, sliced in rounds

1 package of Prosciutto

1 package of Olivia's Organic Arugula

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Fig Jam

Shredded Fiesta Blend Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Roll out the pizza dough on a baking sheet.  Spread with Fig Jam.  (A little goes a long way here- I think I may have used too much... I still loved it though!).  Top with Sliced Figs, tomato slices, prosciutto and cheese.

Bake in oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. 

Top with Arugula and enjoy!

I seriously LOVED this pizza.  Dave, my husband, however, likes more traditional pizzas.  But ignore him and make this!! Sweet pizzas rock!

I also made a dish I saw online on Bon Appetit and also saw on Bridget's Crumbly Cookie: Poached Eggs with Arugula and Polenta Fingers.  Sounds interesting right?  And what exactly are polenta fingers you may ask? You can make them with cornmeal or you can cheat like I did and buy Food Merchants Polenta Garlic Basil Roll and cut them in three pieces, using the middle piece for your "finger."  This is what I mean...

Don't they look like mozzarella sticks?  The combination of arugula with lemony dressing with polenta and the runny egg was so tasty and worked perfectly together.  I will definitely be making this again.  But I may first get a poached egg pan first. (I'm still not the best at poaching eggs, it's hard!)

Poached Eggs with Arugula and Polenta Fingers 

(adapted from Bon Appetit May 2008 and The Way the Cookie Crumbles )

Ingredients:

1 Package of Food Merchants Polenta Garlic Basil Roll (cut into rounds then sticks- 3 per round)

1 cup of Vegetable Oil for frying
8 cups arugula
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon of dijon

2 tablespoons of lemon juice
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
4 eggs, each cracked into a small handled cup
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working in  batches, add polenta fingers carefully, flip and cook until lightly browned. For the salad: While first batch of polenta cooks, whisk oil, vinegar, dijon, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in small bowl until combined. In large bowl, toss arugula with dressing and divide among salad plates. While last batch of polenta cooks, fill an 8- to 10-inch nonstick skillet nearly to the rim with water, add the salt and vinegar, and bring the mixture to boil over high heat. Once boiling, add egg one by one into boiling water, and lower heat. Poach until yolks are medium-firm, exactly 4 minutes. For firmer yolks (or for extra large or jumbo eggs), poach 4 ½ minutes; for looser yolks (or for medium eggs), poach 3 minutes.Top each salad with a poached egg. Break yolks with tip of knife. Sprinkle with black pepper. Serve with polenta.

Stay tuned for what I do with Tofu! Happy Wednesday : )

Sunday Funday!

20 MILES!!!!!

I haven't run all week due to pain in my left achilles, but my Physical Therapist checked it out twice and he thought I'd be fine to run so I took his word for it. If you're a new reader, I see an amazing Physical Therapist who has run the Boston Marathon 26 years in a row.  So yeah, I trust he knows what he is talking about.  He basically told me that I have no risk of tearing my achilles and that my injury is common; to try to start really slow in the run and to try not to stop.  I went twice this week and in some ways, I felt like he was telling me to "Man Up." So I did.
We started out running from my friend Nancys house.  Before I left, I snapped some photos. I wanted to show you what I bring on a typical run.  Luckily I have these awesome Nike spandex with a huge side pocket.

In the side pocket I have my iPod, IB Profin, and a packet of Jelly Sport Beans.
In addition, I bring my Nathan handheld water holder filled with Jellies, Cash for Water, and shot blocks.

I usually wear this on my arm until I buy water, but I decided to carry water the whole time today, filling up twice at Mile 12 and Mile 17. And here are our stats:

20 Miles. 3:14:45. 9:44min/mile

Mile 1: 9:14

Mile 2: 9:23

Mile 3: 9:07

Mile 4: 9:08

Mile 5: 9:08

Mile 6: 9:25 
(Nancy stopped to buy water- stopped watch)

Mile 7: 9:07

Mile 8: 9:07

Mile 9: 9:19

Mile 10: 9:17

Mile 11: 9:23

Mile 12: 10:59
(Oh yes, huge hill here, I started to die, told the girls to go ahead, got my ipod out, drank water, had lots of jellies, didn't stop watch)

Mile 13: 9:36

Half MARATHON: 2:03

Mile 14: 9:28

Mile 15: 10:01

Mile 16: 10:02

Mile 17: 10:03

Mile 18: 10:26

Mile 19: 10:45

Mile 20: 11:37
(stopped to talk to hubby- he ran by me- didn't shut off my watch- trying to get in that habit since you can't stop the clock in the marathon)

So what happened?  What usually happens to me after 16 miles... I died. I was tired.  My left Achilles didn't feel great.  But I conquered 20, 8 of which by myself.  So I'm proud of myself despite the crazy all over the place splits. We somehow messed up our route and started heading back at Mile 12 which meant the route would be really short.  At Mile 12, I also told my running partners to leave me... I didn't feel like I could hold onto the under 9:10 minute pace and I wanted to prepare myself to run alone since Nancy and Leslie are running different marathons. Anyway, when I passed the street to turn to go back to Nancy's, I was only at 15.5 miles.  I already had it in my head that I wanted to run 20 so I decided to run to my house because I knew it would be pretty close to 20.  Unfortunately when I passed my street I was only at 19.5 so I basically ran in circles until I hit 20.  But I finished!
Before and After Photos:

6 am and 10am!

And after I got home, I had 40 minutes to shower, ice, stretch and get ready for...  

THE PATRIOTS GAME!!!

My friend Stephanie's work has tickets in the EMC box and invited Dave and I. The box, the game, the food and views were amazing!

My friend Dana works for the Patriots and she stopped by too!

Welkers touchdown- he's in!
Okay... now to talk about the food.  It was sooo impressive.  There were so many stations with SO MUCH FOOD.  Salads, fruit, cheese, chicken fingers, mac n cheese, steak tips, lobster rolls, clam chowder. And my plate:

Lunch with a view.  Can't beat that.  And then.... are you ready??? They brought out a "dessert cart."

The Patriots don't mess around.
The game was a blast even though I was hobbling around.  And it was even better that our team WON!
What a Sunday! Plus New Jersey Shore, VMAs and Mad Men : )

Blogger Dinner: Audobon Circle

Last Thursday I was invited to Audobon Circle for a Blogger Dinner.  Jayne invited me and she is the Event and Communications Manager for Tiger and Bears- the resturant group that owns several Boston Resturants and Bars including Miracle of Science, Middlesex Lounge, Audobon Circle, Tory Row and Cambridge 1. I was thrilled to be included and was excited to meet Tina from Carrots N Cake and Elina from Healthy and San, two local blogs I read all the time.

Audobon Circle is on Beacon Street right across the street from AnTuaNua.  In my early twenties, I went to this bar ALL the time! It's really close to Fenway Park but its a little off the beaten path.  However, if you take the D Line to the Fenway stop and go up the stairs, it's only a five minute walk.  Otherwise it's probably a ten minute walk from Kenmore T.  But on non-game nights, there are tons of parking so it's definitely worth the trip!

The dinner was at 6:30 and I arrived exactly at 6:30.  I was the last to arrive- I'm new to these things! So I totally missed the opporutnity to take pictures around the restuarant before we sat down.  Luckily, Tina said I could 'borrow' some of her photos. Thanks Tina!

The inside had a really funky vibe- it definitely looked like a great after work place for dinner or drinks.  The resturant also had a nice outdoor space!

If it wasn't so cold, I would have definitely wanted to sit out here.  I love nice outdoor space in the middle of the city!

When I sat down, I introduced myself to the table and everyone passed out business cards.  Sadly, I'm still new to this and didn't have one to share with the group.  But I did get to meet Jayne, Tina,  Jacqueline, Pam, Athena, and Elina. 

I immediately ordered the Vanilla Eight Ball Martini- which had Stoli vanilla, pineapple, and lemon juice.  My kind of drink!

Pretty soon after the drinks arrived, the food started pouring out.  Jayne ordered a ton of appetizers!

First up:  Artisanal cheese selection, with seasonal jam.

Being pretty obsessed with cheese, this was a nice starter.  I really enjoyed the jam!

Next up: White Bean Puree with Grilled Bread.  

I just made my own white bean dip for the party I had last week and I loved this.  Very garlicky!

Next up:  Beef shin Quesadilla

This was my favorite appetizer! I think I'm really into beef lately and I need to calm it down a little bit. This had so many delicious flavorings- sweet yet smokey, just very very rich!

Next up: Grilled Scallops with Creamed Corn

I think I've mentioned multiple times how much I love summer corn- I was obsessed with this creamed corn and kept going back for me.  The scallops were pretty tasty as well.

Next up: New England Crab Cakes, Chipotle Aioli

I also LOVED this dish.  Served on a bed of arugula, my favorite green! I loved how crispy these cakes were- I wonder if they were fried? 

Next up: Asian potsticker box

I definitely really liked these potstickers, but I have to be honest, I ate it pretty quickly and don't remember much of the flavors.

Next up: Mussels, garlic, spicy tomato, grilled bread

 I love mussels, but usually my favorite part of ordering mussels is the broth!  This was tomato based and not broth based, but still delicious.

Okay so those were JUST the apps.  I think Jayne over did it. Not that I mind- I love food! Next up Jayne ordered salads and main courses.

First: Pork schnitzel, arugula, pickled onion

Did someone say Arugula? Pickled Onion? Umm yum.  I seriously love arugula.  And underneath all that salad was Pork Schnitzel- which I loved.  Breaded thinly cut pork fried (probably).  I definitely want to try to recreate something similar.

Next up: Watermelon, feta, micro greens, sherry vinaigrette

This is a popular dish lately, but I'm still not sold on the flavor combination.  Maybe because I don't like fruit???

Next: Pressed turkey, bacon, swiss, asian slaw

This dish was a little hard to share but since it was convienintely placed right in front of me, I ate lots of it. I'm also on a bacon kick lately- I can't get enough of it.  The dip was also really nice and I loved the slaw.

Next: Local heirloom tomato napoleon, fresh mozzarella, basil

Another fresh delicious salad! Can't beat local ingredients!

And to finish this amazing, fufilling dinner we got: Chevre cheese cake, oreo crumb with a Raspberry Sauce.  

Wow, I'm not a huge dessert person but I loved this dish!!! I want to recreate it immediately!

And here is our table or what's left of it by the end of the night! Athena, Elina, Jayne, me and Tina.

Overall it was such a fun night and I really enjoyed getting to know several local bloggers.  Tina/Elina let me know whenver you want to go for a run!

Boston Restaurant Review: Anthem Kitchen + Bar

Yesterday during lunch, I headed over to Anthem Kitchen + Bar with a couple co-workers.  I was really excited about this place!  Before heading over, Gretchen and I checked out the menu online and decided to split two items. I love sharing food!

The menu was extensive and had tons of options.  I'll be honest, I barely looked any further after I found the couple dishes I wanted!  I tend to do that- focus on meals that have one of the following ingredients: arugula, lobster, prosciutto, bacon, avocado and CHEESE!

Gretchen and I switched things up a bit at the restaurant and decided on a flatbread that had:

And an amazing salad!

Lobster Cobb!!! Obviously for me, with no blue cheese.

When the dishes came out, they had separated the salad for us!  It was so nice of Anthem to do that.  Some restaurants don't encourage sharing but Anthem welcomed it.  And look at this presentation!

A deconstructed cobb salad with many of my favorite fixings! Can't beat that : )

One more picture of this deliciousness...

And our flatbread... only one of the most delicious flatbreads I've ever tasted! It definitely rivals the Flatbread I had at Woowdard.

Figs, Prosciutto, Tomato and Arugula with what I thought was a fontina cheese.  It was sooo good.  So good in fact that I pretty much dominated the pizza.  What can I say, I like food! And I can't let good food go to waste!

After I rolled out of the restaurant, I went to pick up my CSA, but I'll show you those delights once I do something with them!

One more thing- I'm not a fan of the sun setting earlier and rising later.  Whats the deal?!?!

Last night, I did get a beautiful shot of the sunset on our way home.  (Don't worry I wasn't driving).

 

Not a fan of the traffic it created though : (

This morning I left as the sun was rising (6am) and saw a beautiful sunrise, but no photos (I was driving). 

Happy Thursday- another restaurant review to come in the next day or two- going to Audobon Circle with some local bloggers.  Can't wait!  And if you are going, I'll see you there : )