Track Tuesday 16

This week was my first track morning without Chandler or Evan - and truth be told, I was a little nervous for how that would affect me. Chandler's a speed-demon bunny for me and Evan's been hot on my heels lately, so they have helped me find a happy pace as I pace myself during those 400s and on. Alarm went off at the bright shining hour of 4:50 and off I went.

I was the only "regular" person there this morning! One woman has been a few times and two ladies were brand spanking new, so this was definitely going to be a test in my ability to pace myself and find where my zone is, being that I didn't know how any of them ran. Ooph.

I would like to lie and say that I totally bottomed out but instead I can say that I totally rocked this morning! Fastest 6 x400s ever : 92s, 93s, 88s, 92s, 93s, & 92s. Holy hot damn, I have no idea where those came from. Dani came in for the last 3, which gave me a bunny to chase finally and those hurt but man, felt oh so good!

I've definitely tapered back in my mileage and running overall since going naked last Monday, but after this morning I can also see how much of a difference it's made, in simply just letting my legs, body and mind recuperate. Aaaaah, bliss. More thoughts on running naked coming on Friday, but I'm really happy I see a physical difference; now it's just working on that mental block.


Joining us for Track Tuesday this week? Make sure you link up!

Weekend Wrap Up

Mondays are cruel. Mondays after a superbly fantastic 3-day weekend gallivanting around Atlanta with your boyfriend and some great friends make it even more cruel. Woof. With that, reliving the fabulousness of this past weekend, mostly through photo - enjoy!

Thursday night started with a trip to the airport & this creeptastic restaurant.

 

Friday's adventure was a trip to the Georgia Aquarium - I can't get enough sea otter adorableness.

Saturday was the World of Coke - my fave!

A gorgeous wedding at the Atlanta History Center.

Kid you not - the doors opened, she stepped out & it started to rain. Hard.

A college reunion for these guys.

 

Post-rain costume change. Good decision.

And ended with a trip to Stone Mountain on a perfect day.

How was your weekend? Did you anything special? Have you ever attended a wedding in the rain?

 

Friday Fun

I'm out for a weekend away! Well, not really away considering I just got back from DC, but a weekend down the road in Atlanta until Sunday evening. So excited!

Get to spend the weekend with this guy! <3

Doug's teammate from college (they played football together at Pomona-Pitzer out in LA) is getting married in Atlanta, so it's pretty much going to be a mini-college reunion for a whole bunch of them. Last night, Doug, his roommate Chris, and his girlfriend Nancy (who we went to Vegas with at Christmas, love them!) got in about 8:30 pm, we grabbed dinner and promptly crashed at the hotel up here in Buckhead. Today it's a day of exploring and fun times showing Chris and Nancy around, since Doug's been before, at the World of Coke (my favorite!) and the Georgia Aquarium (world's largest!) and some other randomness around the ATL.

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Tomorrow it's whatever we please and the wedding at this absolutely stunning place on the left. It's absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to get to explore, even if there's a forecast of storms looming over. It's going to be stunning. I've been ogling over photos online since we found out the wedding was here. Gorgeous. Lots of photos to come on Monday! Long story short is that I'm looking forward to a (mostly) stay-cation for me and gallavanting around Atlanta with some great folks. It should be a great weekend a nice escape from Athens on its graduation weekend (chaos). Hooray!


Hope you have a most wonderful weekend!

What are your exciting plans for this weekend?

Review: Huma Energy Gel

A few weeks back, I got an awesome invitation to try a new gel product, Huma. While I haven't talked a lot about fueling and my choices for such things on here a lot (note to self, blog post in the future), I can tell you that I'm normally a chewy-fruity fan (think Jelly Belly Sport Beans and Clif Shot Blox), and that I'm disgusted, appalled and terrified of Gus. I hate them. The texture, the whole concept. Gag.

So when I heard about this, and the opportunity to try them out, I was a little hesitant at first, admittedly, but I figured it was also a good chance that maybe I'd find something else that I liked aside from the Blox and Beans.

Where did Huma come from, you wonder? I think part of what got me so excited was this unique, awesome and running-inspired story - many thanks to the incredible story that is Born to Run (if you haven't read it, stop reading this piddly blog and go read that first. Then come back here):

The idea for Hüma was born in the sands of Iraq. In the summer of 2009 a US Army soldier named 1st Lieutenant McCollum was charged with leading grueling missions throughout Iraq. At the time he was reading a book about the Tarahumara, a tribe of Mexican Indians who regularly compete in epic 100+ mile races as part of their culture. To fuel themselves on these ultramarathons, they use a special chia seed blend. He figured if it worked for them in Mexico, maybe it would work for him in Iraq. It did. In fact, the stuff was amazing at keeping him going, and that discovery eventually led to the creation of Hüma. Today, Hüma brings together Tarahumara tradition, sports nutrition research, healthy ingredients and great taste as our best shot at helping you enjoy your gel.

Fantastic, right? As I do often, I admit to being the worst eater ever, especially as it regards my running, so I had no idea about the power of chia seeds. But now I'm sure intrigued! Huma bases itself on three key words:

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I was also nervous trying this new thing out given that my tummy is selectively sensitive, and I have yet to figure out what really triggers anything (especially come race day), so I tried these twice. And because I sucked at being a blogger, I have no photos for you... lame, I know. 

Ian sent me (two packages! Because USPS is silly) apple cinnamon and strawberry packets to try. Strawberry is my go-to for anything, so I jumped on those first. The first time I used one before a Saturday group run with the Road Runners on a planned 5-6 mile day - I took one about 15 minutes before our run began, and decided to see how that held me up - no tummy trouble. Success. The second I took once I got in my corral last week at Nike DC to get me started for the race - maybe that's why I felt so good until that 10K mark! At any rate, I'm convinced these work.

Now, regarding that Gu-like substance... these aren't as creamy as I feel Gus are. I'd describe Huma more like a thick applesauce - a little more fruit-like substance, and definitely not as hard to swallow as Gus are (to me). Love. 

All good stuff!

Ian mentioned releasing new flavors in the summer, so I'm pretty excited to check those out too. I passed off one of the Apple Cinnamons to HP, queen of tummy issues (hey, we're runners, it happens) and I'm curious to see how it holds for her! She also likes Gus more than I do so we'll see if Huma passes the test.

Many thanks to Ian for letting me try this stuff out! If you want to read up more on Huma and/or check out if there's any stores near you that are stocking up on this awesome new stuff, visit their site here and of course, check 'em out on Facebook and Twitter too!

You can also get some cash off your first go at Huma too! Use code RUNNERMEGAN and that'll give you 10% off anything in the store until May 14 (not including shipping, and they only ship to US residents for now). 

What do you use to fuel on long runs/race days? Are you a gu/gel or a block/chew fan?

PS. This kind of replaces my typical Track Tuesdays posts. But you can still link up and share!

May (No) Garmin Challenge

Marathon training (or even half-marathon training, for that matter) is all about increasing your mileage, bit by bit, so your body doesn't freak out on you when you try and convince your legs that you can, in fact, run 26.2 miles. Marathon training with a goal race, goal pace, goal time in mind is all about nailing those runs - not only that mileage, but nailing every goal pace run, tempo run, speedwork session and even those 'easy' runs to ensure that you're on target to where you're supposed to be to nail that sub-2 goal.

I did that. I did all those things. I nailed runs, nailed speedwork most certainly, and watched as every Garmin lap got faster and faster. And sub-2 didn't happen. And since then, I have crashed and burned.

I'm burned out.

Admitting it is the first step, right? I'm burned out on training, on schedules, on a plan, on times, paces, charting, planning and mapping every run, and making sure I'm not letting myself slack (too much). I've been in a training plan since August, when it first set up into Wine and Dine (and what would become AthHalf) training which bled into marathon training. Save for taking nearly all of February off, I jumped back in in March with two halfs and then six solid weeks of goal-race insanity.

I'm burned out.

 I miss when I was giving myself the freedom to just run. Run to be free, run for stress relief, run because it was raining and it is fun to run in the rain, and run just for the hell of it. I took Molly on a jog this morning, a whole mile and a half of it, and all I could think was, "I wonder what our pace is with the pup in tow?" instead of enjoying a gorgeous morning with my fur-kid by my side.

And with that, friends, I bring you my May self challenge: digital-free running. Here until (at least) May 31. No Garmin. No iPhone. Me, my shoes, and occasionally, Molly. I need to revisit when I ran for the sake of it, and because I could, and because I didn't care about nailing 1:40 400s or 9:09" miles. I won't lie - this will be quite the challenge, as I've grown so accustomed to having my Garmin on my wrist and have almost become neurotic in checking my mile time every time it beeps. 

No, it's time to run just because I have the health and strength to do so. I'll check in every week with some random on-goings and let you know how it's going. 

Do/have you given yourself the freedom after a goal race (or even just accomplishing a race) to go digital free and just be? How hard is it for you to run without something telling you your pace, your time, your distance?