A rough one...

Here's my lesson of the day. Don't go to a mediocre Italian restaurant on Christmas Eve, and proceed to order sketchy dishes like mussels, carpaccio and "fresh" wild salmon. No, stick to the classics. Pasta. Meat sauce. Things that have been probably boiled and simmering for hours. 

I'm pretty sure the culprit that night was the mussels. They were mighty suspicious and pretty awful tasting. They had cooked them down to little nubs, and the mussel meat inside was probably the size of a pea. I think we all knew that it was a bad idea, but we were so ravenous at that point that we ate them anyway. NOT WORTH IT.

Christmas morning I woke up and was literally doubled over in pain. I made my way to the couch and Jon brought me lovingly wrapped gifts all excited and I just moaned and pushed them away like the wonderful girlfriend I am. After a couple hours and a good chugging of pepto bismol, I was finally able to half-enjoy Christmas. Jon was also hit by the food poisoning but it didn't effect him quite as bad, and his response was a bit delayed.

I attempted to go for a run, even though I knew it was a bad idea. It was near 3pm and I hadn't eaten a bite of anything. I ran 6 miles at a 12 min mile pace. It didn't bother me so much because I knew I was in rough shape, and expecting a slow jaunt. I didn't eat anything until 7pm. Wayyy under the amount of calories that I need for my training plan.

The day after Christmas I took the day off of work, and my stomach almost felt WORSE somehow. Our stomachs were making all sorts of noises for the entire day and night. So much regret.

Jon had a race this morning. I had signed up for it too, but tried to be the smarter person and transferred my bib to a friend since I'm still at a crucial base building point. It was hard. I miss races, and I wanted to be there for my boyfriend since he had been training so hard recently. I needed to hang back though so I could get in my 14 mile run. 

On a side note, as much as I love Brazen Racing I wish that they would stop with the baby shirts for New Years. I get it, but there are some things that just should never be put on a shirt, and babies is one of them. Also, clowns. 

Also, I feel like I need to tell you that Jon did an awesome job at his half marathon. It wasn't easy, with over 2k elevation. He finished in 2:15, even though he too felt the food poisoning lingering. Here's a picture of him with the baby shirt making a hot dog sandwich.

no more babies.

Fast forward to this morning's run. I took my heart rate sitting before I went out, and it was already high. High 70's...just sitting! Typically my hr is in the low 60's, even sometimes in the 50's if I'm very relaxed. My stomach still wasn't 100% but felt better than before. I went out for 14 miles, and it went alright until about the mid point where my paces slowly started getting slower and slower until I was basically walking and my hr monitor was buzzing every 15 seconds telling me to chill out. 

I love my HR monitor. I love it, I wear it every day, and it's taught me a lot. But days like today I want to smash it to the ground and beat it with my bare fists and then throw it violently into the bay and watch a pelican swoop it up and poop it out. 

I got so mad at it, that at the very end I was walking and my HR was 158 because I was so angry. It didn't help that my poor unknowing boyfriend was texting me and adding to the buzzing chaos. He received a very stern and unfriendly text, and then a crying girlfriend that ran and hid in the bathroom after.

Yep. I'll admit it, this is the first time that I was actually brought to physical tears because of the training. There had been some previous close calls, but this one I just couldn't contain myself. I can only pretend to be positive and loving it for so long before I snap. I kept telling myself on the run, "This is so great! I'm not even sweating, I can go on for days! Sure, I'm slow, but I am uninjured and this is awesomeeee! Look how beautiful the clouds are! I love life!" I don't think it was even 20 minutes later before I blew up like a grenade.

Anyway, I just wanted to confess one of my lowest moments training with MAF, because I know it's not uncommon. THIS IS GOOD FOR ME (AND YOU) AND WORTH EVERY TEAR AND MILE.

Ok, now to bring it back to a more pleasant place before I go. I made more zoodles (zucchini noodles). For Christmas, Jon bought me this awesome fancy spiralizer thing that actually has several types of blades and uses almost all of the zucchini. I blanched them (threw them in boiling water for a very short period of time) and then threw them in some pho broth. SO. GOOD. I seriously did not miss the rice noodles at all, and no this isn't me lying to myself like before. I "mmmm"ed after every bite. So yeah, go forth and make yourself some zoodles next time you get pho! Such a perfect combination.

I have another 10 mile run tomorrow, so you might get another post after that. We'll see if I can maintain composure this time. Hopefully the food poisoning is officially gone by then and my hr can take a chill pill.