Seneca7 77.7 Mile Relay Race Recap (Part 1)

Let me just start out by saying that this weekend was AMAZING!!  I had a great time with my parents and at the race.  It would have been the perfect weekend if Mike and I hadn't gotten sick right before the relay. Mike had it the worst the day of the race, but he was a trooper and pulled through for our team.

I mentioned yesterday that it is going to take me three posts to properly recap this race.  I don't want to rush through it and since I ran three legs, it just makes sense!

Now on to the recap! I'll start from the beginning, the night before the race.

Photo credit to my mom

We invited everyone over for a carbo-loading party at our house on Friday night and it was the first time that the majority of our team met.  Unfortunately, Rena and her boyfriend Stefan couldn't make it but they were there in spirit.

 Sarah, Mark, Tom, Cat and Linda (and Benny of course)

Mike, me, my dad and my mom

We enjoyed getting to know everyone and had a great meal with regular and gluten-free pasta, gluten-free bread and an amazing salad that Sarah made.  Cat made gluten-free cookies and everyone agreed that they didn't taste like they were gluten-free.  We also made signs that our spectators (my dad, Cat's step-dad and Rena's boyfriend) would hold the next day.  These signs had a huge impact on us during the race, but more on that in another post.

Getting creative!

Everyone left around 9pm because we were going to have an early start to the day on Saturday.  Our wave started at 8am so that meant that we were going to have to leave our house at 5:45am, which meant waking up at 5:20am.  Good thing we weren't in the first wave at 7am!

 Driving to the Seneca7!!

We hit the road around 5:50am and had a brief moment of panic when we got in to town in Geneva.  I accidentally thought we were going to LakeSHORE Drive but we were really supposed to be at LakeFRONT Drive.  After texting Sarah and Mark we figured out where we needed to be.  Rena and Stefan were running late too but in the end it didn't matter since we had all done our waivers electronically (ironically I was the only one who had to sign the waiver the day of because they didn't accept my electronic initial signature). 

As the team captain, I went and checked us all in and picked up our bibs and race packet.  We got some awesome goodies, like t-shirts, water bottles, 77.7 stickers for our cars, etc.

 Team "Will Run for Whoopie Pies" finally together!

We took a team photo and then Mike headed to the start and my mom, our second runner, headed to the shuttle that was going to take her to the first exchange point.  In order to reduce congestion during the first legs the race set up a shuttle system and it seemed like it worked out well.

We saw Mike off at the start and then we got into our van.

Nice arm warmers!

Starting team #5 off strong! His shoes make him easy to spot!

Cat's mom, Linda, graciously drove us around ALL DAY (and let us use her van for free and she wouldn't even accept gas money from us)!  She made a quick stop at Tim Horton's for some coffee and breakfast and then we were on our way to the second exchange point to drop Cat off.  We saw Mike running and cheered for him from the car!

We couldn't stay at the second exchange point so after briefly stopping at a local fire department that was a designated rest stop, we dropped Cat off and wished her luck.  At this point we had no idea how we were doing since our first two runners had to use a shuttle to get to the third exchange point where we would all be reunited.

 This sign came in handy at the exchange points!

While we were all together in the van, my dad, Cat's step-dad, Tom, and Rena's boyfriend, Stefan, were cheering for whoever was running (with just a few exceptions, sorry Mark!).  They kept us in the loop during the first three legs and that gave us a better idea of how it was going.

 My mom was runner 2 and Cat was runner 3

Mike was waiting for us at the third exchange point and he KILLED his first leg.  I am seriously so proud of him.  He felt like crap and he still rocked an 8:04 average pace for his 4.41 mile leg!  Shortly after my mom came in on the shuttle and she did just as amazing with a low 8 minute pace for her leg too (oh and by the way, this was my mom's FIRST race ever)!  When we registered for the race we put that we were an average pace of 9:30 minutes per mile, so all day our goal was just to come in under that time.

We finally saw Cat coming and then it was time for Mark to run!  From then on we were all together, except for the individual running, and we could stop at all of the exchange points.  We kept hitting sub 9 minute pace as a team all morning long!

 Looking great!

Exchange after exchange happened and I was getting antsy to run.  Since I was the team captain it had been decided that I should be the anchor leg, which meant that I had the longest to wait to run the first time through our rotation.

Mark and Sarah are a couple so it was nice that they ran back to back legs

It was difficult to hydrate and fuel properly since I've never had to wait that long to run.  It also threw off my routine and unfortunately my mom, Cat and I missed one of the exchanges take place since we were in a LONG, LONG, LONG line for the porta-potties, that didn't have any toilet paper!  Luckily Cat ran back to the van and got some tissues.  Rena did yell to us while she ran by though!

 Half of our support crew doing a great job!

Get it Rena!

Since Rena was our 6th runner that FINALLY meant that it was almost my turn to run.  We got to the exchange point, I did some stretches, ran a little warm-up and then crossed the road to wait for bright pink to come into view.

 The exchange point

 AMAZING finish!

Finally, at 11:48am (only 6 and a half hours after waking up) it was my turn to run.  Rena came running in at lightning speed, she handed me the slap bracelet, I hit my watch and I was off to run my first leg of the Seneca7 relay!

Sneak peek: the outfit was a bad idea

Stayed tuned to see how it turned out!

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread

If you were hoping for the Seneca7 77.7 Mile Relay recap, you're going to have to wait.  I have to process my thoughts and it is going to take three posts so that I'm not writing (and you're not reading) a novel-length post.

Instead you get to enjoy a new recipe!

My mom and dad are still here so we wanted to make something easy for dinner and my mom suggested this recipe.  We decided to make two of them and saved the extra for leftovers.  The recipe below is the amount needed for one garbage bread.  

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread

 So good!

10 ounces frozen grilled chicken strips
1 pizza dough
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
3 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Frank's Wing Sauce
1/3 cup ranch dressing
celery

We heated the frozen grilled chicken in a skillet and added the celery and 1/4 cup of Frank's to the mixture.

  The chicken

Yummy mixture

While that was happening, my mom spread the dough out on a floured surface and shaped it into a rectangle.  After mixing the ranch dressing and the remaining 1/4 cup of Frank's we poured it on to the dough.  Then we topped it with the chicken mixture, mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.

 Shaping the dough

Looks good!

The dough was rolled up, with the sides folded up, and then placed on a lightly sprayed baking sheet.

 All rolled up

We had one regular dough and one wheat dough

They were then put into a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.

 Perfect!

Everyone gave this dinner 5 stars!  It was really good and really easy, plus it hit the spot after running 77.7 miles (and driving 77.7 miles) around the lake yesterday.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  

Let the Festivities Begin!

The weekend I have been looking forward to for so long is here!  It's the Seneca7 77.7 mile relay weekend!

My parents are almost here and I can't wait because we have a surprise for them.  We painted the room that they always sleep in and I know they will love it. 

 Ignore the cat that looks like a cow

I am feeling better, we didn't do as much training this week which disappointed me but was probably for the best.  Unfortunately, Mike caught my cold but hopefully it is a weaker version of what I had and he is trying to get rid of it as soon as possible!

Tomorrow night we are having a carbo-loading party!  I'm excited because it is the first time our entire team, except for Rena who will be missed dearly, will get to meet each other.  I'm the only person who knows everyone on the team so it should be a fun time!

If you would like to follow our team, you can go to the live tracking at http://www.onemillionrevolutions.org/tracker/map.php

We are team Will Run for Whoopie Pies (bib #5) and we are starting at 8am!

I Am FitFluential

Fit: in good physical condition; in good health

Influential: having or exerting influence, especially great influence

And just because I think it is lame when a definition includes a version of the original word in it, way to go dictionary.com, here's the definition of "influence".

Influence: the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others

Put that all together and what do you have?  FitFluential!


You may have noticed the new badge on the right side of my blog and my increased use of #fitfluential on my twitter and dailymile posts, or you might not have and that's fine too!

I found out about a week and a half ago that I had been accepted as a FitFluential Ambassador and I could not be more thrilled!  While FitFluential is just starting its second year as a fitness network, it was founded in April 2011, it has grown tremendously in such a short time!  This amazing network is made up of numerous fitness fanatics of all kinds who engage in social media and offline platforms in order to share their fitness journeys. 

Now what does this mean for me, and more importantly, you?

I'm still learning the ins and outs of being an Ambassador, but I can tell you that it is going to be an AMAZING experience.  The FitFluential website describes it best so here is a snippet of what my role as an Ambassador will be like:

As an Ambassador, you’ll have numerous opportunities to work with our brand partners. That means when fitness brands want to partner with solid FitFluentials on product launches, social media campaigns or audition bloggers for long-term partnerships, our Ambassadors are the first to be invited.

Now I don't think that I am the "best of the best" nor that I influence every single person who comes to my blog, my blog's Facebook page or my twitter feed, BUT I try my best to be as motivating as possible.  

Which is why I will close this post with this video, thank you Jill for sharing it earlier in the week!  If this isn't what it is all about, I don't really know what is.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Keuka Lake Tri Training Week 6

Seriously, how are we half way through our tri training?! Crazy!

I stayed home sick today (I caught my officemates' colds and it got worse as the weekend went on) because I need to get healthy for the Seneca7 relay on Saturday!

Monday

Our off day, but I did two workouts for the Amazing Arms 'n Abs April Challenge.  I'm excited for the May challenge!  I made up the previous Friday's workout and did 25 bicep curls, 25 tricep extensions, 25 hammer curls and 25 tricep kickbacks.  I then did Monday's workout, which was 1 minute plank sets (center, side, center, other side).  I was supposed to do 3 sets but I only did 1!

Tuesday

To continue to get ready for the Seneca7 relay, where we will be running three times in less than 12 hours, Mike and I did another two-a-day workout.  We woke up at 5:30am and did 2 miles.  Mike's watch messed up so we used my time which was 17:50.  I'm not sure about the first mile (9:08), I felt like we were going faster but I didn't look at my watch until 1.4 miles.

After work we did the second running workout, a 4 mile trail run!  We are getting ready for our duathlon in May and need to run on some trails since the three running legs are on the park's trails.

Nice, easy trail

We headed out to Webster and hit the Hojack Trail.  It is relatively easy and flat so that was nice!  For some reason my vision was a little bit blurred after the second mile, I'm not really sure what that was all about!  I fell behind Mike a little bit, but I still held a 9:05 average pace and finished the miles in 36:19.  My watch messed up on this run so I was "behind" Mike by .03 miles.  

When we got home I did the April Challenge workout, 20 pushups, 30 front raises, 30 lateral raises and 30 bent arm side raises.  

Wednesday

Just a quick workout at the pool, 100 yard warm-up, 2 x 250 (middle 50 hard effort), 100 cool-down.  I should have Mike take a photo of my swim suit one of these days, I'm sure you would all love to see the drag suit I wear!  It is definitely falling apart, as it should be since I wore it in high school and I am now 9 years out of high school!

Thursday

Brick workout day!  We wanted to head back to where I work because I had an eye doctor's appointment at 7pm but our bike rack was NOT cooperating!  We just did the workout at home and it turned out fine.  The only problem was that it was really hot outside.

Riding 5 miles near our house proved to be a little bit difficult since there aren't any great roads to ride on, but we got it done.  I did the 5 miles in 22:57, not bad for having to slow down a few times.  Mike had stashed his bike behind our house, so I did the same thing and then headed out for the run. 

No brick legs this time!

The first mile started off decently enough, with a time of 9:10, but then I slowed down because of the heat.  My last mile ended up being 9:44! Oh well.  It's a good thing we did the workout at home, though, because I could take a shower before going to my appointment.  I'm not so sure the eye doctor would have been too happy if I had done the workout somewhere else!

Friday

We swam 700 yards consecutively and I did it in 10:03.  When we got home I did two Amazing Arms 'n Abs workouts.  I made up Thursday's workout and did 30 bicep curls, 30 tricep extensions, 30 hammer curls and 30 tricep kickbacks.  I then did Friday's workout but since I was going off of memory I ended up doing 20 less for each move, oops! I did 30 standing obliques and 30 standing crossovers.

Saturday

We had 15 miles on the bike scheduled for Saturday so Mike mapped out a route in Webster (twice in one week, maybe we should just move there?).  It was raining but that didn't deter us from heading out on the roads.  Mike wrote the route on his hand, I'll take a picture next time, and we drove the route before riding it.

It started off fine enough, I was struggling a little bit and my hands were FROZEN but I pushed on.  Around 6 miles I saw that Mike had turned around to make sure I was still behind him and then I felt like the wind was pushing me to the side.  I quickly realized it wasn't wind and I was dizzy! (Now that I have a cold this makes sense, I always get dizzy when I am sick for some reason).  I called for Mike twice and the second time he heard me and turned around.  I felt sick and knew I couldn't go on.  I do blame not eating breakfast for some of this, I need to treat biking like running from now on!  Mike hauled some serious butt back to the car (3:30 miles or below for 5 miles) and picked me up. I did do 5.97 miles in about 27 minutes.   

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

This applies to biking too!

I was angry about the miles we didn't get in (I needed about 10 more and Mike need about 5 more) so we went to the gym.  I did 10 miles on the spin bike in 29:35 and Mike did 6 miles on the stationary bike and some arm machines.  

Sunday

When I went to bed on Saturday night I knew I was getting a cold.  I woke up on Sunday and I didn't feel 100% but not horrible so we still did our 7 mile run.  It was still raining a little bit but we mapped out a route in Chili (pronounced chai-lie, not chilly) and headed out.  

I wasn't thinking and I forgot my watch so I had to rely on Mike the entire time.  He was kind and told me our pace each mile, when we were at the halfway point and when we had a half mile to go.  

 We ran near this creek a lot

source

We started out at Black Creek Park and ran around a path in the park and then headed out on the roads.  I wasn't feeling well but I was trying my best to keep up a good pace.  We only ran on one busy road and then it was eerily quiet on the rest of the roads!  

Mile 1 - 9:22
Mile 2 - 9:16
Mile 3 - 9:15
Mile 4 - 9:21
Mile 5 - 9:24
Mile 6 - 9:31
Mile 7 - 9:17

7 miles in 1:05:28 (9:21 average pace) while sick, I'll take it!

It was nice to end on a good note this week, since last week that didn't happen!

How did your training go last week?  

Potato and Cheese Stuffed Sausage

We had a busy day today so I needed to find an easy recipe to make for our new recipe of the week.  We had some Hillshire Farm chicken sausage in the refrigerator that we needed to use, so I found a recipe that incorporated it. 

I went to the Hillshire Farm website, searched their recipes and found this recipe.  It looked good and better yet easy to prepare!

Potato and Cheese Stuffed Sausage

Sorry for the dirty fork, that's how we served them

1 package Hillshire Farm Hardwood Chicken Smoked Sausage
1 package Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Flavored Mashed Potatoes
2 cups water (for potatoes)
2 teaspoons creole mustard
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

We cut the sausage into 4 even pieces and then cut each piece length-wise, but not all the way through.  We put the sausage into an 8-inch square baking dish.

 Nothing special at this point

After preparing the mashed potatoes according to the package, we added the creole mustard to it.  We then filled each sausage piece with the potato mixture.

 Good stuff!

Ready to go in the oven

After baking it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, we removed the dish and sprinkled cheddar cheese over the potatoes.  We put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes, just long enough for the cheese to melt.

 Looks good!

We had ours with salad and it was really good!  We often have sausage with mashed potatoes but the creole mustard and cheese made it a little bit different.  I would have this again!

Now we are just relaxing and enjoying the rest of our Sunday.  I hope you are having a great end to your weekend!

Random Thoughts Going on in My Head

This is going to be a VERY random post!  I don't really have anything concrete to write about so why not make a list of the random things going on in my head at this moment.

1.  New Blogger Layout

Umm, I don't like it!  I didn't mind it too much until I went to write my first post, this one, after the switch and now I almost can't stand it.  I know I will get used to it in a few days, just as I do with all the changes on Facebook, but I don't like change.  It didn't change anything about my blog, just what I see behind the scenes, which is a good thing!

2.  Making the Switch to Self-hosted

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, but with the new Blogger layout my want (really need) to do so has increased tenfold.  I probably won't do it until the summer because I will have more time to dedicate to it.  I am a 10-month employee and I only work in July (this year it will be some August too to make up for us going to Chicago for the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon) during the summer and I can really focus on the switch during the two months that I'm not working.  I will need help though, so if anyone is really good at making the switch let me know!

3. Sweet Commercial

I just saw this commercial that is floating around the interwebs for the 2012 Olympics.  It is a really sweet dedication to the moms out there who dedicated their time to their kids' futures.  It was nice to see because it reminded me of the times that my mom and dad drove us to swim practice at 5am and sat through every. single. meet. (My parents only missed a handful of our meets growing up and then most of my college meets but they did make the 10 hour trek to see me in what would be my last collegiate swim meet).  They also went to every cross country meet, baseball/softball game, golf match and anything else that they could.  My dad even drove me to Pennsylvania for swim camp, drove home and did it all over again when he picked me up a few days later!

I know that they would be at as many of my races that they could now if they weren't 10 hours away.  I hope that the day that Mike and I become Ironmen my parents are there, cheering for us, just like they used to when I was younger.  If not, they will be the first people that I call, no matter how late I finish!



I can't wait to return the favor and cheer my mom on like CRAZY next weekend!  She is one of our teammates for the Seneca7 relay and it is her first race ever!  I can't wait to see my parents in general because the last time we saw them was in December.  We only get to see them three of four times a year!

4. Good Luck Wishes

I want to wish Jenny good luck this weekend!  She is attempting her second ultra marathon and I know she is going to rock it! 

There she is on the right!

5. Teammates Still Needed

We still need 5 more teammates for our Reach the Beach New Jersey relay team.  Help me spread the word!  The team is a mixed, full team of 12 people and the race is on October 12-13.  If you would like more information check out the race website.  If you are interested email me at fromcouchtoironwoman@gmail.com

I think that's all, if something comes to me I'm sure I will write a blog post about it soon!  

What are the random thoughts going on in your head right now?

Do You Do This Too?

You know how before you buy a new car you never notice it on the roads, but as soon as you buy it you see it EVERYWHERE?  That has definitely happened to me with two of my three cars (my first car was a Mercury Sable and I don't think I saw it out and about too often).

Well, the same applies to running!  Or in our case, cycling and running.

The other day while Mike and I were getting ready to leave Wegmans (the local grocery store), Mike said "look a runner".  And sure enough, there he was across the street running to his heart's content (or so I hope he was).

If you think that was the only time we mentioned the existence of a fellow runner, oh how wrong you are!

We are constantly pointing out runners (and cyclists) that we see on the roads.  We don't really do it with swimmers, though, since you don't often see people getting their swim on in Lake Ontario.  Pointing out a swimmer at the pool would be quite ridiculous even for us (but I do point out the other triathletes there)!

When we see these other runners and cyclists,  I have to stop and wonder if they love it just as much as we do!  When I see them with hydration belts and dri-fit gear I have an inkling that they do.  I feel a kinship with them because we love the same thing!

It doesn't stop with seeing things related to running, though.  Whenever I hear something about running (or triathlons) I have to stop and listen.

Last weekend I went to my friend's birthday party and one of her other friends, who I had never met before, was talking about "5Ks" and "track" and "cross country" and I had to listen up!

And just today while I was in class with another interpreter (we call it "teaming"), he mentioned that his brother competed in an Ironman and even knew that Lake Placid was the most competitive one to get into!

I think that running and triathlons are becoming popular topics nowadays because they are recognized as actual sports.  As they should be!

Source: runnersworld.com via Lydia on Pinterest

Case in point, four of our favorite shows in the last two weeks have had running related themes.  Maybe you saw the "Rules of Engagement", "New Girl", "Up All Night" and "Mike & Molly" episodes too?  I especially like how it took Jess and CeCe from "New Girl" 3 hours to "run" a 10K.

This lifestyle is on my mind all day, every day and I'm perfectly fine with that!

Source: runforthethrill.tumblr.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Or bike, or swim

Tell me we're not the one ones who do this!

Keuka Lake Tri Training Week 5

Another week of triathlon training down!  It's kind of crazy because we are only one month away from our first ever duathlon.  I'm excited, but nervous at the same time.  For our triathlon we picked the sprint distance, but for our duathlon we picked the Formula 1 distance.  So that means we have to run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, run 1 mile, bike 10 miles, run 2 miles.  Not to mention that the running legs are on trails!  Good thing we have one trail run done and we are planning a few more soon.

 Ironically, look at what came in the mail today!

Monday

Off day.  I did continue the Amazing Arms 'n Abs April Challenge and did 20 bicep curls, 20 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls and 20 tricep kickbacks.

Tuesday

I mentioned last week that we were both experiencing some lower leg soreness so we decided to skip a 6 miler on our training plan altogether.  I wanted to give us one more day off from running, so we switched swimming and running this week.  

Sorry I keep using this photo, I should take one of my own

source

Since it was the last day of 600 yards, we did a "time trial".  I finished the yardage in 8:37, which isn't too bad but it was slightly slower pace than when we did our 500 yard time trial.  We are going to start swimming the last two days of each distance consecutively and see if this helps us improve.

I also did 30 standing obliques (each side) and 30 standing crossovers (each side) for the Amazing Arms 'n Abs Challenge.

Wednesday

After 5 days off from running, we hit the road and busted out 5 miles.  This run was AMAZING!!  I did feel tired during it but we kept our pace under 9:00 minutes per mile almost the entire time!

Dailymile entry

I continued with the April challenge after our run and did 15 pushups, 25 front raises, 25 lateral raises and 25 bent arm side raises. 

Thursday

Our training plan changed a little bit last Thursday with the addition of brick workouts!  Not sure what a brick workout is, don't worry you probably aren't alone!  

Source: Uploaded by user via MacKenzie on Pinterest

A brick workout is when you do two (or three) of the disciplines in one workout.  There is little to no break in between, which is supposed to simulate the transitions that happen during a triathlon. 

Our training plan only calls for bike/run brick workouts, but you can do any combination while training for a triathlon.  There is a local triathlon group in Rochester that does run/bike/run workouts and swim/bike/run workouts.  We are planning on joining the group next year and taking advantage of these workouts during Musselman training (half-iron distance) and then Ironman training the following year!

We started off with a 5 mile ride near where I work.  Mike got ahead of me, which is fine because I am slow on the hills, and I finished 5.09 miles in 22:32 minutes (13.6 mph).  We immediately ran into my building at work and stored our bikes in my office, we got some strange looks!  We need to figure out a better transition situation but for our first week it worked.

We then headed out to run 3 miles.  We started with an uphill, so Mike got ahead of me again.  I was pretty surprised with my paces (9:03, 8:48, 8:50) because my legs felt heavy (hence the name "brick" workout).  I don't think wearing my Kinvaras helped either because my form was a little sloppy since I was tired.

I did the Amazing Arms 'n Abs workout when I got home and did 36 basic crunches, 36 scissors and 72 crossover crunches.

Friday

Friday was pretty light, with just 700 yards in the pool.  We did a 200 yard warm-up, 2 x 200 swim, descending each 50 yards and a 100 cool-down.  I didn't do the Amazing Arms 'n Abs workout this day.

Saturday

Source: lolsnaps.com via Sean on Pinterest

We did our first long ride outside!  I think so far the longest we have ridden outside was 8 miles, maybe less.  We braved (rather I braved, since Mike isn't afraid) the roads and did 12 miles in about 53 minutes (13.5 pace).  We had to stop a few times for traffic and we walked our bikes across a one lane steel-deck bridge!

The route was slightly hilly and I had to ride out of the saddle a few times.  I was brave and I rode in the drops instead of the hoods a few times too!  I just need some aero bars (or a triathlon bike) and I will be all set.

Sunday

I wish I could say that the week ended on a good note, but it didn't.  Mike did pretty decent but I had a hard time on our "long" run this weekend.  Since we didn't do our 6 miler last weekend, we cut back each long run by one mile until the last week of tri training.

I figured out our route and even included a monster hill because I need more training on hills!

The first three miles weren't too bad, all of them were under 10:00 minute per mile pace.  The third mile had the evil hill!  For some reason, after the hill I couldn't get my legs to go.  I told Mike to leave me and he took off (not too much ahead of me, I could see him most of the time).

The last three miles were all above 10:00 minute per mile pace.  I was frustrated but I knew that it wasn't meant to be so I just kept going, determined to finish.  I was so happy when my watched beeped at mile 6! 

I haven't been running sub-10:00 minute per mile for that long, but with a few runs under 9:00 minute per mile pace this run frustrated me (although my average pace wasn't too bad, 9:48 minutes per mile). As I said on my personal Facebook page, though, the bad runs make me want to go out there and do it again more than the good runs sometimes!

How was your training last week?  

Pittsburgh BBQ Chicken Quesadilla

Time for another recipe!

This one is special because we came up with it on our own!  I wanted to do a BBQ chicken quesadilla and Mike thought of adding coleslaw to it.  His inspiration was the Pittsburgh sandwich, which has coleslaw and french fries in it (we of course omitted the french fries).

Pittsburgh BBQ Chicken Quesadilla

1 12.5 oz can of chunk chicken breast
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy BBQ Sauce
3 strips of cooked turkey bacon, crumbled
1/4 cup coleslaw
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 small onion, diced
2 burrito size tortillas

Keep in mind that some of these measurements are estimates!  Also, you could substitute any of the ingredients for ones that suit your taste better. 

After cooking the bacon and dicing the onions, we combined the can of chicken, Sweet Baby Ray's, diced onions and crumbled bacon in a bowl.

 Great BBQ sauce!

We used our George Foreman grill that my mom gave us to cook the quesadilla.  The first tortilla was placed on the bottom of the grill and then topped with the chicken mixture.  Next, we added the coleslaw and then topped with cheese.  The second tortilla finished it off.

 Mike said it looked like a pizza

We cooked the quesadilla for about 10 to 15 minutes. 

 I wish the tortilla browned a little bit! Oh well, it was still good

Other than the fact that some of the ingredients spilled out of the sides, I would say that this was a success!  We could use less chicken mixture in the future to prevent this from happening again.

What's your favorite kind of quesadilla? 

How Far We've Come

Today is our Runniversary!

The only useful thing about Timeline

If you are wondering what Week 1 Day 1 of Couch-to-5K (C25K) entails, here you go:

Alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes

Wow, it's hard to believe that's how we started this journey!  The first few weeks of C25K weren't difficult, but my knee did start to bother me almost immediately.  It was more challenging as the weeks went on and our running time increased, but we got through it!  We only had to repeat one day of the program because I couldn't finish a run that we had started on a trail.  

In only one year we have run 15 races each (I DNF one and Mike didn't run Around the Bay) and three of those were half marathons!

In honor of our Runniversary, we ran today!  Honestly, it just happened to work out that way with our training plan, we might not have otherwise.  

 I wore my new Canari cycling jersey

Now, why would I wear a cycling jersey to run in?  Well, today wasn't just a running day, we had our first brick workout of this training cycle!

When I made our plan I had the brick workouts include 5 miles biking and 3 miles running.  We ended up going to where I work because we still don't have locks for our bikes and we stored them in my office while we were running.  Not the best simulation of a transition but it will have to do for now!

The bike route was a little hilly, which is good since our duathlon and triathlon both have hills.  I ended up doing 5.09 miles in 22:32, which is 13.6 mph.  Not too bad considering the terrain!  

The 3 mile run felt horrible in the beginning but I still hit decent paces:

Mile 1 - 9:03 pace

Mile 2 - 8:48 pace

Mile 3 - 8:50 pace

Total Time: 26:43

Average Pace: 8:54 minutes per mile

Mike was faster than me during both the bike and run, but I had him in sight most of the time!  Overall, it was a pretty successful brick workout but we definitely need to figure out a better way to simulate the transition.   

I would say that we celebrated our Runniversary the best way possible, doing what we love!

When is your Runniversary?