Time of Day: 6:20 AM

Weather: 77*, 64% humidity (Whatttt!?)

Duration:  1 hour 18 minutes 10 seconds

Distance: 9 miles

Average Pace: 8:41/mile

Notes: Today I felt comfortable on my run.  There was no heat index, there was a breeze, sweat actually evaporated–it was as if I had been transported far, far away from August by the Gulf of Mexico to some other city with lots of pollution and cars but a more reasonable climate.  Ummm…I guess that’s a nice idea.

So yeah, comfortable, but still slow.  I was really hoping everything would feel easy and I would fly once the heat dropped a little.  Part of that wish came true–running felt easier–but I’ve run much faster in much worse weather. 

True, I was protecting my left leg a little.  There’s a very sore spot in my calf and it’s causing achiness in the muscle along the inside of my knee.  I don’t need more knee pain.  The calf doesn’t hurt when I run and the ache is minimal, but I don’t think breaking into a sprint at the first sign of nicer weather is going to help much.

But…and I hesitate to bring this up because any non-runners reading this might jump all over me.  Hopefully they’ve gotten bored by now and left.  Anyway…but what if it’s because I’ve gained weight?  I know I have.  I don’t know how much because I haven’t weighed myself, but I’m looking a little rounder in the rear and I can…get this…pinch the fat in the middle of my stomach. 

Ok, now that all the runners also want to kill me, let me say that I like how this looks.  About a year ago I was quite a stick.  The nice butt I had in college was gone.  I had no hips, no boobs (although I still don’t have those, what gives?), and only had a period every few months.  I was barely within my “healthy weight range” and if those charts took muscle into consideration I probably wouldn’t have been there at all.  But hey, I was darn fast.

Now, my marathon PR set in January was also my heaviest marathon, so I know that quality training is definitely more important than a few pounds in determining my race times.  I can’t help but wonder, though, if I’m ever going to be as fast at this weight (whatever it is) as I was when I was super skinny.  I hope so, because I plan to stay this size.  I am healthy and extremely fit and still thin and I want to continue to enjoy excessive amounts of peanut butter.  And I really like having my butt back. 

It’s no secret that our sport rewards a somewhat ectomorphic body type.  In fact, when I googled “ectomorph” to make sure I was using the right word, I got this picture.

Courtesy of Google

So my question for you: do you struggle with finding a balance between a healthy weight that you like and a weight that gives you an edge in running?  Any guys out there who think they look “too skinny” but want to stay fast?  Any ladies who wouldn’t mind a few more curves?

Time of Day: 6:15 AM

Weather: 81*, 79% humidity, heat index of 85*

Duration:  1 hour 15 minutes 49 seconds

Distance: 8.5 miles

Average Pace: 8:55/mile

Notes: Today I am going to try something new–I am not going to complain that today’s pace was almost 9 minutes per mile.  I am not going to complain about the heat, because who can complain now that the humidity has dropped below 80%?  It made the heat index go down an entire degree, for crying out loud!

My legs were sore and tired and took at least 4 miles to almost warm up (they never quite got there).  I’m not complaining about that either, however, because my legs are sore because I ran 13 miles yesterday.  And because I’m bringing my mileage up and running at least 8 miles a day most days of the week.  These are not things I could do a few months ago.  Remember the pool running?  I still shudder a little when I see my Aqua Belt in the trunk of my car.

On my run today I thought about how happy and blessed I am to be challenging my body every day doing something that I love.  I guess that’s why I’ll never understand the Bucket Listers who train only for one marathon, cross it off the list, and then never run again.  They’re missing the point–it’s not about that one little race.

Speaking of races, I still haven’t registered for any I’m considering.  Why is that so hard?  Do you usually wait until the last minute or are you an early bird when it comes to registering?

Time of Day: 6:10 AM

Weather: 81*, 83% humidity, heat index of 86*

Duration:  1 hour 51 minutes 31 seconds

Distance: 13 miles

Average Pace: 8:35/mile

Notes: Does your run ever make you too tired to blog about it?  I just got up from an attempt to nap and I’m a little fuzzy.  “Attempt” because I never fell completely asleep, but it felt so good to lay down.  One of the benefits of not starting work until the afternoon.

Today was my long run and my first post-injury foray into “teen mileage.”  After reading about Lacey’s Superwoman-like recovery from surgery I feel like I’m taking my sweet time with getting back in shape, but it is what it is. 

Last night I went to bed early and got up earlier than usual this morning to get in a few miles before it got light outside.  Interestingly enough, the first half of my run was not good at all and the uncomfortable first miles scared me into thinking that the last few might just kill me.  Garmin kept spitting out slow lap after slow lap, when miraculously it gave me an 8:10 for mile 7.  After that I was fine until the end, with a little slowness around mile 11 when I noticed how gross, sweaty, and clingy my running shorts had become.

A negative split long run is a good long run.  Still, I don’t see any 20-milers before it cools down around here. 

Would someone please tell me how to fix my camera?  This is the last picture I took of Milo before it started taking only fuzzy pictures.

A belated thanks for the great feedback on my possible training schedule.  To clear up a few things:

1) I live in Houston.
2) 5ks…nah.  I’ve run more 5ks than any other distance because I competed in them all through high school and college.  I haven’t done one in years because I just don’t like them.  They are too fast and I don’t get the gratification of running a whole bunch of miles for all my pain.
3) Don’t worry, I’m not going to do hill repeats in parking garages.  I guess I’m just not as hardcore as those people.  I can live with that.

Last week I bought a giant bag of frozen chicken, thawed it all, then needed to use it up.  Luckily I was able to make dinner on both Friday and Sunday–almost unprecedented!  I used up all the chicken making dinner for MSB and me and now I have lots of leftovers in my fridge. 

Sorry for the awful pictures.  I haven’t figured out how to use MSB’s camera very well and by the time I took the pictures I was ready to eat and not fiddle with the camera settings.

On Friday I served chicken parmigiana with eggplant and zucchini, using How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman as a guide for preparing the chicken.

Chicken Parmigiana with Eggplant and Zucchini

4 chicken half-breasts
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 jar marinara sauce (I used Newman’s Own)
Flour
1 egg
Panko breadcrumbs
Olive oil
About 1.5 cups grated mozzarella and Parmesan.

Preheat the oven to 400*.  Slice the eggplant, place on a baking sheet, and soften in oven while you prepare the chicken. 

Set up three plates: one with flour, one with a beaten egg, and one with the breadcrumbs.  Dredge each chicken breast on both sides in the flour, shake off excess, then dip in the egg and breadcrumbs. 

Pour about 4 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet and heat it to medium.  Cook the chicken until browned on both sides–3-4 minutes each side.

Combine the canned tomatoes and marinara.  Pour half of mixture in 9 x 13 baking dish.  Slice the zucchini and place zucchini and eggplant slices on sauce.  Put the chicken breasts on top, add the remaining sauce, then top with cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Serve with whole wheat spaghetti.

Last night I had a conundrum:  it was too hot to cook in my apartment, so I wanted a dish I could prepare and then take to MSB’s place, finish baking, and eat.  It also needed to involve chicken covered in cheese.  Enchiladas!

I used this recipe and lightened it by using light sour cream, reduced fat cheese, and lowfat (but not whole wheat, they were too stiff) tortillas.

It was surprisingly easy and turned out extremely well.  I will definitely use this recipe again, although I think I will add more vegetables next time.

 Don’t forget the avocado!

*******

70 minutes on the elliptical today.  It wasn’t bad at all….for the elliptical.

Time Spent Running: 7 hours 55 minutes 29 seconds

Total Mileage: 55 miles

Strength Training: 3 weight sessions, plus core exercises

Elliptical: 1x, 70 minutes

Yeah, I know I haven’t been recapping my weeks very often, but I don’t feel like telling you about the last few runs.  Just bad.  Hot, slow, and I felt lightheaded and sick after yesterday’s.  I don’t like writing about my runs when they suck.  It makes for a rather depressing blog.

Let me distract you from my bad runs by pointing out my highest weekly mileage this year.  This next week won’t be quite as high because I’ll have two elliptical days.  Because I only run 3-4 days in a row and never do elliptical on the weekends, weekly mileage fluctuates with the way my cross-training days fall.  I ran 6 days last week, so it was higher. 

Work has been lame lately as clients try to squeeze in a last minute summer vacation and prep for school begins.  I’m hoping it picks up soon, but in the meantime I enjoyed leaving work 2.5 hours earlier than usual on Friday and actually having a Friday night.  Not a late Friday, mind you, but I actually got to make dinner and I’m making it again tonight.  My camera appears to be broken, but hopefully you will get a few recipes from me this week with pictures from MSB’s camera. 

It’s so hot.