Predictable weekends and double digit long runs

Friday night = pizza night.  Saturday morning = long run.  Saturday afternoon = nap, shower, food shop, ice our legs and lay around.

We are starting to get mighty predictable and downright boring living in the suburbs aren’t we?  I guess that’s what happens when you don’t really have anything to take care of or do.   I would usually spend Saturday running errands or cleaning the house but  there isn’t a whole lot of that to do lately.  We’ve spent a few of our weekends house hunting here and there, but nothing glorious has struck our fancy yet and so the search continues.

Friday night we hit up Marino’s for our usual pre-run carbohydrate fest (I only managed to put away one and a half of those slices…)

 

FYI if a restaurant does not advertise themselves as a BYO on their website, it’s probably going to be super awkward if you show up with a bottle of wine in your purse and they are actually just a little take out joint with some eat in tables.  It wasn’t exactly the ambiance that I was hoping for but the pizza was good and the sweet potato fries were even better.  Ralph had brought two beers so we drank those instead.

A few years ago I would have been super against any drinking the night before a long run, but as the years went on I adopted the attitude that as long as you are drinking enough water through out the day, one glass of wine or one beer will not hurt you.  Besides the fact that nothing is more relaxing than a glass of wine, and if you subscribe to the school of “nothing new on race day” (which you should!) if you want to be able to enjoy a nice glass of wine the day before a race, you should do so the night before a long run.  That was really one giant run on sentence but I think you get my point.

5am wake up call was NOT happening this weekend, but 5:45 did, which wasn’t  too bad considering we had 10 miles to cover.  I was all ready to slather on the sunscreen and head out.  I am super stoked to be doing double digit long runs again.

I have to include this before picture of the braid I put in my hair before I started.  Long hair and the layers I love when it’s down and straight  are wonderful every moment of the day except for running.  A ponytail get’s all knotted or swings around side to side and drives me crazy.  My hair is just too darn heavy to stay in a bun and it just slips right out after a few minutes.  So french braid it is.

 

So out the door we go, and are promptly greeted by a innocent little rain shower that started to get ever so slightly heavier by the second.  Ralph was carrying his phone in his SPI belt and it was not wrapped in plastic so we quickly headed back to the house.  Even though the plan was to throw it in a baggie and head back out, I made us wait five minutes for the rain to stop.

 

 

Apparently you should probably check the weather for the day before you head off for a long run.  Small lapse in judgement on my part for that one, I just assumed it would be another hot sunny morning like it had been for weeks past.  Imagine that, the weather is unpredictable and changes constantly.  Weird.

We planned out a loop this week, instead of an out and back, which I tend to like better sometimes because you can’t really change your mind and shorten the run if you are feeling lazy.  I think it really toughens you up mentally to know you have to do the whole thing no matter what.

After 10 miles apparently my braid had enough too.  Not only were all my layers slipping out all over the place, but it was super F-R-I-Z-Z-Y from the humidity.

 

 

Also, it’s really pretty awesome to come home from a long run and have this adorable face run to great you at the door.  They don’t mind that you are all smelly and sweaty, they still want attention.

 

 

Weekend Eats:

 

I finally got around to making Southwest stuffed sweet potatoes on Saturday night which I have been dying to try ever since I first came across them here.  These have been on the menu for a while but we have been cooking so much and have had so many leftovers it just didn’t end up fitting in until this weekend.

This morning it seemed like a really good idea to have dessert for breakfast so I made homemade pancakes with chocolate, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips.  Ralph loved them.  I would have preferred blueberry.  I also would have preferred real maple syrup but we forgot to pick some up last time we were at the store.  You havn’t lived until you have had your pancakes/waffles/french toast with real maple syrup.

 

Lately, I feel like my long run is really taking a lot out of me and I can’t tell it’s from waking up early or just the sheer amount of time of my feet or the fact that I just don’t have anything else to do during the day.  Naps after long runs are becoming almost a requirement which isn’t necessarily a bad thing I guess, I used to do it all the time when I lived on my own and was training,  it’s just hard to get used to all over again.  Also, I really miss ice baths. I know that sounds scary if you’ve never done it, but I swear it’s the most magical thing ever when it comes to recovery.  For anywhere between 10-15 miles just a cold bath is really all I need to make my legs feel ten times better, and anything 15 and up I actually do throw in a bag of ice.  I was really looking forward to soaking in a cold tub post run this weekend, but as it turns out the water here at the in-laws doesn’t actually GET cold.  Which I guess is great if you are looking to take a steamy hot shower, but taking a luke warm bath didn’t sound too appealing to my leg muscles so I settled for two bags of ice on my legs instead.

I really hope when we end up in a house they have cold water in their bath tubs.

Do you think it’s ok to have a drink the night before a long run?  Out-and-back or loop? Did you make any amazing new meals this weekend?

xx Sara

Tagged as: Long Runs, Pizza Night, Puppies