Seeing how MAF training is getting a lot of spotlight these days, I thought I'd share some of the positive and negative attributes that I've experienced for the past four months.

Keep in mind that your own personal experience will vary. You may just be genetically gifted and find that the MAF hr is actually hard to keep because you're so freaking...well, I'll stop there. Just keep walking if you're one of those people. This list is for those sad and probably broken people that are teetering on the fence and looking for a justification to ditch MAF or stick with it.

The Downs

• You are force-fed humble pie. MAF training starts off by just checking the ego at the door, and eating a slice of humble pie. Not real pie. I wish it was. Mmm...pie. You're going to be much slower. Grandma and Grandpa are going to pass you on their speed walks with their smug poodles. Your significant other is going to exclaim, "WOW that took you such a LONG time, I was so worried about you, I called the police for a search!" Try not to strangle that significant other. They mean well. The point is, you need to be real with yourself, and understand that you need work.

• It requires an unbelievable amount of patience. MAF training takes PATIENCE. And lots of it. The people that seem to need it most are the people that are hardest to slow down. I don't like to categorize myself too much, but I know I'm leaning heavily toward a type A personality. I like to go, go, go, I love following a strict schedule, and I have a hard time slowing down and listening to my body. I didn't ever want to use a heart rate monitor, simply because I knew that the numbers would be scary.

• It also requires a heart rate monitor. I personally don't mind this part because I am a data nerd, but some people think it's a bother and you can get dependent on it. And nobody likes to put on a cold wet heart rate strap on at the first part of their morning. 

• This plan takes TIME. If you're telling yourself that if you don't see improvement in a couple of weeks you're going to quit, then you probably shouldn't even bother. It took me at least one full month to see any progress at all. In fact, my progress went backwards into the dark pits of Hell before it started to claw it's way back into daylight. It brought me to tears more than once. Not only will it potentially take over a month to see progress, but progress for me afterwards was steady and slow. Soon, slow starts to not feel so bad, but depending on the aerobic shape that you're in, it could possibly take years to reach your plateau of speed.

• You might scare away your loved ones. Sure, not everyone is going to be as dramatic as me, but I do think this one will happen to some. I went through extreme highs and lows, from feeling like flying to threatening to quit and pouting on my bathroom floor. If you have a significant other or anyone that you're living with, you might want to give them the heads up that you won't be quite yourself. My poor boyfriend...

• You will feel alone. Very, very alone. It is difficult to run with other people at the beginning of the training. Not only will you most likely be minutes slower than your average pace before, but simple things like talking will bring your heart rate up. I did 95% of my training completely alone. You will have friends that will politely run slow with you, but it ends up being more stressful because you know you're holding them back. 

• Kiss your races goodbye. During your MAF training, you probably shouldn't be racing. Some people squeeze in a 5k or 10k, but I would discourage it at least until you're a few months into the training. This can be hard, especially if you're a racing maniac like I was. The ol' medal rack might need some dusting.

• Prepare to walk. I had to ditch trail running for the most part, simply because any hill would bring me to a screaming halt or a crawl. I'm still not great at hills, and I need to walk very slowly up most of them, often stopping part way. This saddens me a lot, and continues to be one of the worst parts about MAF training to me. Sure, you can still keep training on the trails, but in order to keep my sanity during base training I needed to run more on flat ground.

• Warm ups are time consuming. Maffetone is pretty strict about his warm ups, and I think he has a point. I had to force myself to do a very gradual one mile warm up before every run. This easily adds on an extra 12-15 minutes, considering that I start off walking. It also makes me a little miserable because I start running early in the morning when it's cold out. Your average runs will take much longer considering you will be running a slower average pace, with the additional warm up. I should mention that he also recommends an equal cool down, which I don't always do...

• You might have to forfeit other sports and activities. This one is debatable, but I think it has helped me progress faster. I had to say goodbye to my rock climbing gym, and plyometrics. Why? Not only was it additional stress to balance all the things, but if I did anything to make myself sore it would easily raise my heart rate for the run. I don't believe you need to say goodbye to all strength work, but you will probably need to make some adjustments.

• It's a birthday downer. This one is a half joke, but really...for every birthday you're basically waving adios to another precious heart beat. If you're older, you can't help but look down at the younger whipper snappers doing MAF and have envy of their 160 MAF hr.

Okay, I think that's enough of the negatives. Are you still there? If you are, then maybe you have a chance. I needed to be honest, because there are indeed a lot of downsides. I do believe that the positives outweigh them, so here they are.

The Ups

• Injuries, be gone!  This one is a biggie, and one of the most prominent and wonderful parts of MAF. My training used to be littered with fall back weeks due to injuries. I have had almost every injury in the book. Hip pain, shin pain, knee pain, foot pain, you name it and I've probably experienced it. With MAF I have more than doubled my weekly mileage with far fewer injuries. In fact...not to jinx it, but no injuries. :| It weirds me out actually, and I can't stop talking about it to my friends (sorry friends.)

• Sicknesses are sparse and short! Running easier and slower is much more friendly on the ol' immune system and adrenal glands. I used to get sick much more often, and I can say that in the past four months I haven't been sick for more than one day. At the most it would be the start of a cold, but I would be able to stop it completely by the second day.

• You appreciate your surroundings. Since I'm moving at a much slower pace, I have time to let my mind wander and relax. I've grown to appreciate and anticipate getting out in the morning to watch the sun rise. I pay more attention to the wildflowers that are sprinkled along the path. It's nice. 

• Practice good breathing. This goes hand in hand with the meditation. Prior to this training, I never really did an actual recovery run, or easy run. My easy runs used to be a 9:30 pace, which clearly was still way too hard. Therefore, I never was able to get full deep breaths while running. At my MAF pace, I can have keep controlled breathing for up to five or six counts in and out. If you breath out with an audible "phhhhh" sound, it will almost guarantee a drop in heart rate. I find myself focusing on my breathing even outside of work and it's calming. 

• You'll look forward to every run. Well, maybe not EVERY run, but I find that I do get more excited to go out each morning. I set my heart rate monitor so it doesn't show my pace, so when I go home it's a surprise to see my progress. There's always that dangling carrot of hope.

• Meditation becomes your friend. I've never been one to meditate. Throw me in a yoga class and I'm that person that rolls their eyes at all the weird breathing and chants. Lately though, I have really been able to focus on my environment and quiet the ongoing voice in my head. As soon as I start thinking about the race or about life in general, I see my heart rate rise, so meditation helps me keep that in check.

• Run Longer. Like I mentioned, I have more than doubled my weekly mileage. In fact at the start of the training, it's good to log in more time. I recommend at least six hours a week. I rarely get tired mid run, and at this pace I feel like the energizer bunny that can keep going, and going. It might be a good time to sign up for a new distance of a race, since you'll be accumulating a good amount of miles.
  

• Have more energy. I believe this is partially due to my new low carb/high fat diet too, but I know that running slower gives me more energy throughout the day. I used to do long runs and be absolutely useless for the rest of my weekend, but now I am almost annoyingly energetic. I have no problem running 38 miles a weekend and still get all the house chores and gardening done.

• You'll be more mindful of your heart rate. I am more in tune with my body now, and can feel when my heart rate is higher without a monitor. I can sense when I start to get sick faster, which gives me an advantage of defeating it quicker. 

• Watch yourself progress. You are at the bottttom of the barrel. But with patience, you WILL get better. With more patience, you'll get good. And with even more patience you'll be sitting on top of that barrel throwing down the arrow like in Mulan. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should watch this. The only way to go is up, so enjoy the process and watch yourself improve. Go little Gazelle.

• Gain a greater sense of peace and holistic lifestyle.  Lastly, I am just all around a more peaceful and calm person. I may still be quite a bit slower than my prior years, but I know that I can maintain this throughout my life and extend my running career. This experience has taught me to look at my health holistically and that alone is gold! No more ibuprofen, no more ice baths, no more band-aids on a larger underlying problem. I feel proud of myself for addressing the issue from where it's stemming, and it's been making a clear difference. 

I think this sums up the ups and downs. I'd be curious to hear other people's stories if they have done any MAF training. If you are just starting out, one of the best pieces of advice I can give is to follow Maffetone's nutrition. Nobody likes to restrict food, but changing that is part of the whole issue here, and you will see faster gains by taking out sugars and processed foods.

Good luck, and keep your chins up. :)

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The ups and downs of Maffetone Training - with Goat illustrations!

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First of all, I was looking at my Strava data and look at this! See that really tall spike in June? That was 66.8 miles, BUT 50 of those miles were when I went crazy because I was injured and decided to bike 50 miles to make up for it. And no, I don't bike. And yes, my butt did hurt. I also got brutally sunburned because apparently that happens on a bike? Anyway, the highlighted bar in February is my current highest RUNNING week mileage, which weirdly also adds up to 66.8. I am such a believer in MAF training, because I had no idea this kind of mileage was possible on my body without injury. *KNOCKS ON ALL THE WOOD*

Things I've learned this week: running 32 miles and then trying to continue training by running six miles two days later is going to suck. The third day (12 miles) isn't any better. And the 4th day (8 miles) is probably going to feel worse. However, if you go to bed earlier than your Grandmother at 7:45pm on a Thursday night, 12 hours of sleep should do your legs some good. SLEEP IS SO IMPORTANT. Don't be that person thinking you can squeak by with 4-5 hours and be perfectly normal. You're either a freak of nature, or you're lying to yourself.

I thought my recovery from the 32 mile would be a little bit faster than it was. Then again, it is quite a feat to conquer, so I'm amazed that my legs were able to continue as tired as they were. The soreness was primarily in my quads, I think from the 1300 ft of gain that I wasn't prepared for. It was a bad time to move my office seat to the 2nd floor. :| Stairs were not my friend.

Surprisingly, my paces weren't too shabby despite the extremely heavy and sore legs. It was reminiscent of the days when I was sore from horse back riding, but not as bad I guess. I cranked out one of my fastest runs ever on Thursday. A 10:05 pace average for 8 miles. The weird thing is that it felt slow! I have made major progress since the last time I did this run in early December, considering that this is after my 50k and my legs were still so sore. I chopped 50 seconds a mile off in three months! I'm sure it's even more if I actually gave my legs a break long enough to let blood flow back.

Earlier this morning (MUCH earlier) I finished my longest run of the week. A measly 24 miles.

Just kidding, it's not measly. In fact, I kept longingly gazing into the ocean and any hotel pools that I passed by. I was so tempted to jump in to give my legs an icy relief. They just aren't used to so much abuse! The temperatures were also quickly rising, despite me getting out of the house at 7am. Sorry East Coast/Mid West, but our temps are actually pretty warm out here. It was 78 degrees in our house mid day.

The heat was rough on me, and by 12 miles my heart rate started climbing past my 149 MAF hr. I managed to keep it at or below 160 for the remainder. The sun was brutal, as you might be able to tell from my wicked runner's tan line. I guess that's one downfall of the compression socks.

Prior to the run I freaked out because I realized I didn't order any Injinji toe socks to keep my little toe blister at bay. I found this awesome wiki page that showed step by step instructions on taping, as well as describing the different types of tape and methods. I'm definitely bookmarking it. The tape actually worked out great. I felt my toe hurting a little at the end because of the swelling, but it remained blister free!

Oh, and I got new Hoka One One Clifton's! As usual, they were a dream straight out of the box. I really wish the tongue was thicker. I put in both of the insoles to give a tighter fit, but they were cushy and a smooth ride. I didn't realize that my shoe collection is skewing sharply to the Teal/Yellow/orange, but at least it's consistent? I'll be alternating between the Hoka One One Valor's and the Cliftons for the next couple of weeks. Possibly my Altra Olympus' if my toes start to feel too cramped.

My shoe lineup. Valors - Cliftons - Nike Wildhorse

The Cliftons!

And that's about it over here! I have another 10 miler tomorrow, and then lots and lots of gardening!

A last little note I wanted to share is my recipe for my new favorite shake EVER. Again, I need to post a disclaimer saying that I may not be the best judge of taste right now. I haven't had sugary or carby foods in months now, so...yeah.

I recently discovered Maca root Powder. I wanted to balance out my hormones a bit for training and health reasons. Turns out it also gives a great energy boost and is a sort of superfood. Some people apparently are turned off by the taste, but weirdly I enjoy it. A LOT. I was so excited at the malty texture and subtly sweet taste it gave my smoothies.

My smoothie ingredients

So what do I do? I use my little Magic Bullet blender, and fill it about 1/3 full of crushed ice. I then put in a cup to a cup and a half of Flax Milk, unsweetened (or unsweetened Vanilla). I have tried a lot of non-dairy milks and this one hands down is my favorite as far as texture and flavor. I also put in a tablespoon of almond butter for some fat and calories, and a tablespoon of chia seeds for the Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. Lastly, I use some stevia drops for flavor. I've been using the Vanilla Bean and the Peppermint drops (just maybe 3-5 drops of each) from Sweet Leaf. Blend it up and it's sooo good and filling.

I'm not into artificial sweeteners but I do like that stevia comes from an actual plant. These add just a hint of sweetness without the sugar. Oh so good!!!

That's all! Enjoy your weekends! Don't forget about Daylight Savings!

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Maca Root Powder, Hoka One One Cliftons, and SO MUCH RUNNING.

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I don't have a lot to say since I last posted, but I wanted to show you my latest times for my 10 miler! Even though I felt a bit slow and achy today from the MARATHON yesterday, I was surprised to see that I still managed to improve. It was pretty rough to start and my warm up was showing an already high heart rate. I really didn't think I'd be able to go very fast, but it wasn't too bad. 

You know one of the problems about the Maffetone Method? There's a lot of awkward slow passing. I can't rev up the engine and politely scoot by a person going almost the same pace. Instead, I just verrrryyyy slowly pass them over a long period of time. This happened today, and I'm betting that me and this old man were both pretty fed up with each other. 

As you can tell from my activity title, I learned that you should probably just pop any blisters that form, so that they don't get larger when you run again. Normally I just let them do their thang, but I've never had any that really caused me any pain. This one on my little toe was CRAZY painful, and I ended up limping home and ripping off my sock. I spent a majority of my day limping until the pain subsided.

Amazingly, even though this is my highest mileage week of my entire life by FAR, I have a lot of energy today! I finished my run by 9:30am, and then we went to the farmer's market where I gimped around for a bit. Then I came home and mowed both the front and back lawns. This shouldn't have been a very big task, but it was since A) our lawn mower is on the fritz, and B) our lawns were wayyy overgrown from abandoning them for the past couple of months. I was sweating buckets just trying to start the stupid thing, and then having to stop every 10 feet to unload the grass clippings was a pain. I didn't stop there, instead I decided to pull deeply embedded grass that had overgrown in our garden bed. My hamstrings will be mad at me tomorrow...

OMG 7 weeks left!!! 

Laundry's done, dishes are done, and I even cooked me some paleo "cornbread"! MMM it's SO good. I threw in some flaxseeds just for fun. I'm slowly starting to incorporate more sugar and carbs (sweet potatoes, honey, squashes) now that I have a pretty solid base. Hopefully this will rev things up and allow me to perform even better! 

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Still improving! Lots of energy today, and some Paleo "corn" bread!

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Seven hours and twenty minutes. Amazingly, that's how long my Thump Blu headphones lasted today. I am really impressed! I had to finish my run and let them drain out, which seemed to take forever. They should be solid for my 50k and I'm going to alternate between these and my waterproof ThumpBlu's for the 50 miler. The waterproof ones apparently last for 8 hours. I really like the price of 80.00 for the originals though, and if you aren't a super sweaty runner (I hear that they are very not-waterproof), I think it's quite ideal! You will not regret going wireless. And no, I'm not sponsored by them or anything, just a very pleasantly surprised customer. Here's a pic of me listening to podcasts trying to drain the battery in my new shirt that Jon got me.

Trying to wear out the battery on the headphones.

It's been a happy love weekend for us in our household. Our anniversary happens to be the day before Valentine's day, so we pretty much just celebrate that. We decided to attempt some recipes out of the French Laundry cookbook to celebrate. It's amazing how much work and heart is put into those recipes, and I now understand the hefty cost of the meals. Check out the parmesan crisps with truffle goat cheese mousse that we made. They were deeeelicious!

Jon was in charge of the main course, which was Salmon "chops" with Celery, sans the Black Truffles. Yeah, I kind of burnt the toast. And yeah it's missing that cool little "chops" piece of skin, but it was also delicious. I can never get enough salmon these days. We both really felt all that butter, oil, and cream though. No...more...cream.

Oh, and look what came in the mail for me yesterday! I backed this Indiegogo for the movie a year or two ago, and I'm really excited to see the finished product! Nikki Kimball is such a badass, I'm sure this documentary won't disappoint.

Now back to the whole Running thing. I ran a marathon today. An entire marathon. For a training run. And I will be running ten more tomorrow. What is wrong with ultra runners? This is not normal!!!

This whole week I had been feeling a little off. I had a bad response to some onions early in the week which kept me up all night, and really messed with my sleep and recovery. My runs were not record setting, although somehow I managed to PR on my half marathon time today (by TWO seconds). My legs have been feeling heavy and my heart rate feeling a bit jumpy and high. Kind of a bummer, but to be honest, my constant rolling successes and PR's were even annoying myself.

The 26 miles today was alright. It was on my usual trail, although I'm really trying to incorporate some hills so my body isn't thrown into complete shock race day. I did 500 feet on my 8 mile run Thursday. Today I only did 300 feet, but I'll take it. The best part for me was being able to keep my average heart rate at 150. It definitely crept up towards 160 in the last few miles, but that seems to be expected. I took it nice and slow, and drank TWO liters of water, which is a lot for me. The sun was quite unforgiving, and I'm pretty sure my already awful tan lines just got a lot worse. My ears are hot. I'm pretty sure they are burnt.

Here are my stats in case you care...

Aside from being pooped on...not once, but TWICE by these little butt-holes of birds, I also got attacked by a crow. It never touched me, but it played a mean game of chicken with me and I have never been so scared at the damage a bird can do flying directly at my face. I also got this surprisingly balloon-like blister on my pinkie toe. I had a tiny cut between my toes from earlier so I decided to wrap it in a bandaid. BIG MISTAKE. I'll spare you the graphic photos, but it's gross and really was kind of painful at the last few miles. To pop or not to pop...that is the question. (Yeah I know I should leave it alone)

I bought these VFuel gels because who doesn't want to eat fudge brownie goo on a long run. I was stupidly excited about it actually, and then sorely disappointed. It tasted both a bit sour and salty, and I have to say it reminded me of vomit. I can't say it felt great in my stomach either, but that might have just been the aftertaste in my mouth. Maybe the other flavors are better, but I think I'm going to stick with PocketFuel and Tailwind for my long runs.

I have been on a chocolate kick lately, and I need to kind of chill out with it. In result, I bought this ridiculously expensive piece of chocolate at Whole Foods to try during the long runs. I think it was $2 a piece! 

My beef with the whole thing (other than the ridiculous price tag) is that it's a rather large hunk of chocolate. I wish that it was flatter that I could break into pieces and nibble from, but instead I had to take rather large bites. The chocolate was decent, but very dry, rough, and unpleasant in texture. The taste didn't wow me enough to spend another $2 on it. I'd rather just carry some Ghiradelli 86% squares with me. My overall take: Good, but not THAT good.

On a side note, I actually took a cold bath today after my run. I think it has made a significant difference because other than this nagging blister and some fatigue, I feel fine! Going to play it safe and stay off my feet. The agenda for the rest of the day is some R&R and I'm also going to be developing a new and better logo. :) So keep your eyes open for that!

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My wireless headphones, and oh yeah, a training MARATHON.

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Sorry for the vertical video.

This morning I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to get my run over with. I didn't want to. I wanted to sleep in, especially since I was so sleep deprived the night before and miraculously didn't take a nap. I was buzzing around all day yesterday, and even went grocery shopping. By the end of the night I was regretting it...my legs were SO achy and sore! Note: Don't run 25 miles, and then go grocery shopping. You should lay down.

Miraculously, my run was pretty pain free. It did rain though...quite a bit. I got out at 7am since I scoured all of the weather reports, and they were saying that by 9am the winds would be 20-30 mph. At 7am they were only 10-20 mph.

The downside was that it was pretty much pouring the entire time. The wind was there, but it was mostly at my side, and luckily I avoided a lot of headwind. My waterproof headphones that I was glowing about ended up shorting out of one ear. I knew I should have knocked on wood. I'm hoping that they will dry out and work like new.

This run is second in line for the rainiest run of my life. The first being 2012's CIM (California International Marathon). That sucker was cold, and raining sideways! This one was also cold, but not intolerable. Lots of puddles were splashed in.

You know what is amazing? I still finished this 10.2 miler at a 10:22 min mile average, and a 149 average hr. Just look at this beautiful graph! Knowing that I did the same run in a RAINSTORM following 24 miles, and managed to still knock 22 seconds off per mile in a run...is kind of awesome. I am truly a MAF believer! The best part is that I want to run every day, and I'm not tired of it at all. I kind of loathe my rest days.

Clearly my 10 miler after my long run is the best run ever for me...like, every week. Haha...anyway, that was just quick update. The rest of my day has involved my heating blanket, naps, and my bacon cookies that I've almost eaten all of. GO MAKE SOME.

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Rainy Day

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I might post again tomorrow, but I figured I'd write a little blurp on today's run. Oh, and here's a drawing I did of a bufflehead. I have a lot of time to look at the birds along the bay with all of this running back and forth, but I never get tired of seeing them. They vary so much from the standard seagull and raven, to crazy weird ones that I've never seen before. I'm going to start drawing all of my favorites until I get tired of it. I needed some inspiration to draw, so this will do nicely!

Today I did a 24 mile run. I took 2 days off between this and my last run because the weather yesterday was a bit all over the place. This morning I managed to only get rained on twice, but the temperatures were mild. It was a bit muggy for my taste, and I'm glad I got out the door at 7am because it started to get warm. 

I got these waterproof/wireless headphones for the purpose of running in the rain, and this was the first time I actually got to use them. Thump headphones always struck me as a little weird, because they seem unusually cheap, and I've also seen similar headphones under different names. I was always a little weary, but since they were so cheap I thought I'd try them out. I have both the original ThumpBlu headphones, and the Thumpblu XTREMES. The ThumpBlu ones have been a pleasant surprise! The charge has not died out on me yet, even on my 5+ hour runs. They are also quite comfortable and easy to use. The waterproof ones have a bit of a strange design, and it takes some getting used to, but they were also very comfortable on my long rainy run today. Two thumbs up! You have to go wireless...you just have to...

Back to the run. The first bit was pretty rough. I had a really hard time sleeping the night before, I think because of some new tea that I had tried that ended up being crazy caffeinated. All night I could actually feel my heart beating hard, so I had a feeling the run was going to be less than stellar. It started out rocky, and I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach.

Once things got going, I got into my groove and was able to hold a slow and steady pace for a while. I kept my heart lower at the start, because I knew I had many miles ahead of me and was bracing myself for my body to really lash out. I managed to keep my hr under 150 for most of the run, and only after maybe the 20 mile mark did it start to creep up. 

My previous 22 miler from 2 weeks ago

So some important improvements to take note of, compared to the 22 miler (shown above) I had two weeks ago. Not only did I go about 30 seconds per mile faster, but I also included a hill (that I had to hike up most of). I also had a heart beat average 3 beats slower on this 24 mile run, and my max was 11 beats lower (from 171 to 169).

Additionally, when I finished my run I was pleasantly surprised to see that I set a new half marathon PR of 2:18:47. Not too shabby considering it was on a 24 mile run! There's definitely a lot of progress between the two weeks, and I really couldn't be happier.

My New and Improved 24 miler from today

Nutrition wise, I drank a cup of decaffeinated coffee with a tablespoon of coconut oil. That seemed to fuel me through almost the entire run, but I did stop at mile 20 to try out this Chocolate #9 gu made simply of Agave and cocoa. Excuse my language, but DAMN is that stuff good!!! I don't think I'll be using it for my future races since I'm not too crazy about Agave Syrup (all fructose), but it tasted like fudge syrup! I also have been horribly deprived of sugary tasty goodness, so it's highly possible that I'm delusional. If anyone knows of a super simple ingredient one with maybe honey and chocolate, let me know. Please.

Oh yeah, and my friends are making fun of my gross cookies that I made, but I think they're delicious! I think the problem is actually calling them cookies, since they aren't sweet but are instead savory. I had a feeling that they would be questionable, but they turned out really delicious and I've already eaten around....five. Bacon Onion Cookies! I'm going to eat more right now :|

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The bufflehead! And my 24 miler recap

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So far I've done two of my runs this week, and can I just say that they were the most incredible runs ever? I had a feeling that I'd see some new PR's this week, since it's a drop down of mileage. I did only 10 miles last Friday, and 12 miles on Saturday (It was supposed to only be 8).

I didn't think that I would progress THIS MUCH. First of all, my run on Monday was a "blazing" 10:04 minute pace overall for 6.2 miles! I even had one mile that was actually under a 10 min pace, and I shattered my previous 5k and 10k...all in this ONE run. What's strange is that it didn't even feel that fast to me. Now going a 10:30 minute mile seems lagging, even though just last week that would have been a fast pace for me.

My run this morning was 9 miles (10 if you include my warm up). I ended up with an average of 10:07 for this one...still SUPER fast for me. In fact, I even PASSED a person. It was a very slow pass. She probably was wondering why I was passing her so slowly haha.  I find that I end up being so excited that I'm running fast that I have to try hard to chill out to keep my heart rate low. I guess it's not a bad problem to have. 

I have one more run tomorrow (8 miles) before my big long run on Friday (24 miles...eeek). Tomorrow I'm going to take a break from shattering records, and I'm going to focus on some light hill work. I need to start incorporating hills gradually into my running so that I'm not completely wiped out when I have to run tiny bits of elevation for the race. I set up a run for about 300ft of elevation gain tomorrow. Gotta eassse into it, and will probably just add 100ft each week. My hill work will definitely be walking at first, and running down the gradual side of the hill to work on my turn over. It seems like a safe amount of work to me.

Also, I caved and bought an Instant Pot. This thing apparently is a 7-in-1 machine that can make soups, steam things, pressure cook, cook rice and grains, act as a crock pot, and even make yogurt. Uh, I know that wasn't a list of 7 things. I am excited that it's a pressure cooker and I can now make bone broth in a tiny 30 minutes! I can also make a whole chicken in 30 minutes, with the meat falling off the bone. I plan on doing that tomorrow, so you will see pictures!

Instant Pot!

Another great thing that I discovered is steaming eggs in it! SO EASY AND FAST. I just set it for 4 minutes on a low pressure steam (accidentally set it for high on the first trial...nothing exploded, and it wasn't overcooked, but smelled eggy). You can just walk away, and then when it's done, I let out the steam and threw them in some ice. The eggs peel SO nicely, even if they are fresh.

I was a little scared about it once everyone started telling me how dangerous pressure cookers were. I made sure to read the directions thoroughly, and now I feel really comfortable using it. This is a start of a beautiful friendship.

LCHF low carb low carb high fat low heart rate MAF Maffetone slow running training

Yee Haw, Records are falling this week!

HeatherIhn 0

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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!

Hoka One One Hoka One One Valor I LOVE FOOD LCHF low carb low carb high fat low heart rate MAF slow running training

401km DONE! And 9 weeks left!!!

HeatherIhn 0

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