401km DONE! And 9 weeks left!!!

I'm pretty sure the REAL final countdown is going to be the last ten days...but it is absolutely terrifying how quick these weeks are going!

First of all, BAM.

For the first time EVER I have hit 400km in a month!!! For us 'muricans, that is almost 250 miles! The more miraculous part is that I have not needed a single ice bath, nor have I needed to crawl into my desk after lunch to nap. I remain a fully functional, house cleaning, grocery getting, hard working, energetic little bee!

I wanted to organize a chart in which I could visualize my progress a bit better (yeah, that's the artist in me). I'm sure there's an easier way to do this in google docs, but I managed to do okay. The first column is the date obviously, the 2nd is the mileage with the orange and yellows being my long runs, the middle is the average pace, and the last is heart rates. For the middle, I picked the cooler purples to show the faster times, and the red to dark red to show my slower times. And for the heart rate, everything over 149 is in orange, and everything under is in green, and yellow is JUST right. You can see that there is definitely some progress even though I seem to be pushing my heart rate higher than I used to, but only by a couple of beats. Keep in mind that I've also increased my mileage a lot since I began.

Runs have gone well for me, except for maybe today. I ended up stacking all five together without taking a rest day between, for scheduling reasons next week. Tomorrow will be my off day, and I will resume Mon-Wed, rest, and long run on Fri and Sat. It wasn't bad doing my runs stacked together. My legs feel so great that I would really like to run every day if my brain wasn't telling me that I'm asking for trouble.

My run on Wednesday was my fastest overall run yet, at a 10:22 pace. The 10 miler the next morning was also pretty fast for me, at a 10:25 pace. This morning I tried something new and went up to Marin for the San Francisco Running Company's 2 year anniversary run. There were a ton of people including quite a handful of elite runners. I'm a little fan girl since I listen to podcasts on my runs and am familiar with a lot of runner names. Unfortunately I'm also extremely introverted and awkward, so I didn't introduce myself to any of them, wah wah...

Since I still wanted to follow my MAF pace, I ended up being completely alone at the back of the pack. I knew that would happen, because the runners in Mill Valley are another species, I swear. The entire pack is lightning fast! It's fascinating. There is also a great love for the SFRC, and everyone is proud to wear the logo. You can now order stuff from them at their store online HERE, so I highly recommend checking it out! The mug is my favorite mug that I own, Brett, the store owner, CLEARLY cares about the quality of the items he has his logo on. The shirts we have are ones we want to wear daily, and the mug keeps things hot for hours!

I ended up running through the Tennessee Valley trail which is a relatively flat out and back to the beach. It was much hillier than I'm used to unfortunately, so I really struggled through it. At least I got to enjoy the beach which was brilliant and peaceful. I ended up doing an additional four miles on the bike trail in Mill Valley, and that was flat but the sun was harsh. And no, it actually was probably still in the 60's but I am a baby with anything that isn't windless, 60 degrees, and flat apparently.

Tennessee Valley Trail, the BEACH!

So what's next? I need to start working on hills...FOR REAL. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but this week, I might start walking up some and running down for both leg strengthening and turn over. The trick is not over doing it, so I might just do one hill day per week, and maybe incorporate some on my longer runs on the weekend. I also need to get off the stupid bay trail but it's so easy and close!

Lastly, FOOD. I love it, and I've been experimenting with new things! I found this awesome bread recipe here. Don't get put off by the name, I am not exactly looking to be in ketosis but I don't think it's a bad thing either. These buns are delicious and taste really great! I love that there aren't a billion ingredients, and I leave out the fake sugars. I make sure to only eat a half a piece, because they do contain a lot of fiber. I haven't had any problems with them though, if anything they've been great for my digestive system. I also experimented with this Cloud Bread. While it's pretty delicious and has a nice texture, it is super light and unsatisfying. The tops also tend to be a little sticky, not sure if that was my fault. I would continue making them since they are so easy, but I prefer the keto buns. 

Keto Buns - SO GOOD

Cloud Bread in the making, so light and fluffy!

Great texture, very light.

I've also REALLY been enjoying our meat from US Wellness. Despite them being frozen, the meat has been very soft and delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Here's a burger that we made from the 85% fat ground beef. I threw on some spicy mustard and sauerkraut with tomatoes and onions. I could eat this every day. We are going to be regular shoppers.

Last is our usual scallops with tomatoes. Jon and I stock up on the big bags of frozen scallops at whole foods, which makes for a really quick and easy source of protein. This time I threw in some more greens and put it on some zucchini noodles. Also, amazingly delicious. I'm getting really hungry just looking at this food again.

I took out a lot of the dairy I've been eating aside from the occasional goat cheese and greek yogurt, and I've also been eating less red meat and more fish. I think it's helped a lot with inflammation. I used to have tired feet sometimes, but that has completely gone away. I've never realized just how important and impactful each type of food can be on your body, and I've also never felt better! I don't eat before any of my runs, and I will only eat during my very long runs over 3 hours. It's been good so far, and my energy has been very consistent. Can't talk enough about it...(sorry)

I apologize for cramming all of my info into one weekly post! I'm going to try to break it up a bit more next time. OH YEAH, and I've ran a lot in the Hoka One One Valors this week and they've been awesome!!! They're my go-to shoe now, and I haven't had an issue with them at all. I also ran in some of the new Bondi 4's today, and did the 12 miles in them no problem. I don't really like how they did the tongue on them though, and prefer the Valors. The Bondi's seemed to run slightly large, I usually wear a running size 7, but I kept tripping over the toe since they were a little too big. I AM curious to try out the Cliftons since I've heard nothing but rave reviews about them, but I'm going to wear out some other pairs first before I can justify another shoe purchase. Ok, going now!