That "vegan" runner...remember?

Quick post tonight...can't spend 30 minutes or more writing up a post tonight.

During my 6 miler a couple hours ago I thought about the last time I talked about anything vegan on the blog....it's been quite a while! Well everybody...I do have some vegan updates for you all:

Update #1 : I had the most incredible tempeh-potato dish ever a couple of weeks ago. Val and I decided to hit up Philly last Sunday (yes, when we go to hip, cool cities we do so on the weekend...during the afternoon) and knew we were in for a treat. 

We visited two vegan joints: Pure Sweets & Co. and Vegan Commissary. 

  

At Pure Sweets & Co, we found the decor to be beautiful, but the prices to be outrageous. We paid (yep...still bought some food) just over $20 for a 10 ounce bottle of freshly squeezed juice and two small cookies. Val and I have had better and bigger cookies for half the price we paid so needless to say--although I'll still say it--we won't be heading back there anytime soon.

 Please visit!

Vegan Commissary was just fantastic. Val got a breakfast sandwich/burrito (can't remember which) and I got the Veggs Damien which used a vegg egg and vegg yolk in the dish. This was my and Val's first experience with Vegg and I very much enjoyed the egg-substitute.

 

Something interesting about the place...no menus!

 You have to look up the menu on your phone or use the large chalkboard menu as a reference. And yes, I took this picture off of Google images. Thank you unknown photographer!

Okay that's all for now. Get out to Philly and grab some vegan grub! 

Our Philly vegan experiences so far include:

• HipCityVeg (vegan meets fast food...and falls in love)
• Vedge (fine dining)
• Vegan Commissary (didn't mention this earlier, but we went for brunch. Our favorite!)
• Pure Sweets & Co. 

Happy Running..and eating!

Philly M here I come!

Trying to get back into the swing of things with this here blog.

Have you heard of Badwater 135? It's the famous (or infamous) 135 mile ultramarathon held in Death Valley in July. It's sort of been on my bucket list...was never really sure if it would ever be realistic for me to pursue it as training for the race would just be all-consuming. Temps soar past 110 degrees! It' just nuts...and that's the very reason Badwater as it has previously been held has been banned due to the serious risks to participants. Ahh well..bet my dad would be glad to hear this news!

Philly Marathon training is off to a great start! Had an amazing 3 hour run on Saturday morning and managed 21 miles. I think the incredible vibes of Rutgers campus on opening day of the football season definitely added to my energy levels. I had a feeling that I was going to really feel it in my legs the next day and I wasn't wrong.

My legs were as tight as can be yesterday morning, but I knew I had to stick to the plan...so of course I modified it a bit and took off a mile and a half. Ran the best 8.5 miles I've ever run. No need to get into the nitty gritty, but I was quite pleased!

But I have nothing to be as pleased with than Jaden  Click on the link to read about this little guy's accomplishment!
 

Also! Christina the Athletarian got back to me about an interview and is open to me asking her questions. So I will finally be reaching out to her regarding these questions shortly! Check out her blog!

That's all for tonight! Have to get some planning done.

Happy Running!

The struggle is real!

So there's this phrase that is very...very...popular among the teachers in my school: The struggle is real.

Typically it's said about the students comprehension of new material or lack of organizational skills, but every so often the phrase is expressed and directed at the speaker in a more poking-fun kind of way.

But for me...the struggle has been absolutely real in a not-poking-fun, totally serious kind of way. I'm talking about a late nights, early risings, barely running, overeating kind of struggle. 

There was a time, a couple years ago, when 9:30 was late for Val and I. Fortunately for her, she still has the luxury of getting to bed around that time and oh, how I envy her for that. Now when I see 11:00pm on my phone or computer screen I tell myself one more hour...and then I wake up 5 hours later to do it all over again. 

And what's making it even more tough is that I'm not running the same kind of distance I was even 2 weeks ago. I was getting in at least 60 miles a week for a good while and now I'm lucky if I get in 30-35. It's been a slight drag on my morale, but I'm happy I can at least get some runs in during the week. 

What will help, and already has started to do so, is my being newly registered for the 2014 Philly Marathon in November! The Philadelphia Marathon was my introduction into endurance running and I'm thrilled to returning to the event this year. I've been struggling to get long, slower runs in for the past several weeks, but have had no problem at all getting in 10-15 milers in at much faster paces than I was previously. I took that as a sign and am running with it...all the way to Philly in November! And the motivation is real! I finally got in a 3 hour (21 miles) run which has been impossible for me to achieve before today; every time I went out for a long run I turned it into something faster and an hour less at least. 

So yes....the struggle has been real and it will probably not ease up any time soon. But at least I have running. Which is good because I don't think as many people would read this blog if it was called "Me and this Teaching Thing"...

So here's to everyone who said your first few months of your first year make you want to _______________ (use your imagination to fill in the blank). You were right. But again...at least I have my running.

Happy RUnning everybody! (The RU is on purpose as my run today took place on Rutgers campus. It was great to be back there!)

Great running weekend & vegan love

Happy Monday everybody! It's been a few days since my last post and yes...I've missed you all too!

I had an excellent weekend full of relaxation including time spent with Val, family, and great running. 

Great runs

I decided to sleep in Saturday morning. Evidence that the body can be "programmed" to wake up at a certain time is evident in my waking up at 5:30AM without my work/weekday alarm being set. Well, 5:30 wasn't working for me that morning, but 8:30AM seemed like a good time to wake up. Truthfully, I can't recall the last time I woke up at past 7:45..sleeping in is just not something I do. 

It didn't and doesn't help that I still don't know what I should be focusing my training right now. I was so excited for the Via Marathon in Lehigh Valley, PA, but that sold out not too long after I decided I would register. Womp womp...

So I walked out the door Saturday and figured I'd get in 2 hours before Val came down for the weekend. I couldn't believe how great I was feeling and managed to run 16 miles at an averaged 7:16 per mile pace, while negative splitting the run (running the second half of the run faster than the first half). 

While I was running I knew that the next day would probably consist of a light recovery run or a very slow long run. I was sure that I wasn't going to be able to run anything significant after my last mile of the 16 was around 6:36, but I was wrong.

Sunday morning came around and it took me forever to get out the door. Val wasn't feeling too well and wasn't sure if she was going to go out for her bike ride. The last thing I wanted to do was leave her at the house and go for another 2 hour run...so I went for a 10 miler instead! And boy was this one heck of a ten miler. My calves were tight from the outset, but my breathing was spot on and I knew after my warm-up that I would be able to sustain the sub 7 pace I was running. I told myself: If I can finish no slower than 1:10 (a 7 min/mile pace) then I'll be able. I averaged 6:41 mins/mile for just under 

1 hour and 7 minutes. I was ecstatic!

How these runs happened 

I couldn't even tell you how these two runs occurred. The last thing I thought I would be doing 3 weeks after my 6 hour would be running 10 or more miles under 7:30 pace. I did take 3 days off last week I've read a lot about how a nice gap in running like that allows the body to not only recover, but really process the training you've been putting in and enhance overall fitness. Given that my diet didn't change and my hours of sleep have diminished slightly, I think I can only look to the rest days I took to explain this weekend's runs. 

So next time you don't want to take a rest day or think that a day or two off is going to really set you back or decrease your fitness, take solace in the knowledge that this won't happen. It generally takes about 3 consecutive days to start to lose fitness so as long as you don't go through that (a "rut" is what I like to call it), then you should be just fine. 

Going forward

So after this weekend's running I think I'm going to stick to the pavement this fall. I'm looking to run the 2014 Staten Island 6 hour just about a month on September 20th. This ultramarathon is run on a 2 mile loop on pavement which is something that might not be great for my joints, but I am looking forward to nonetheless! 

For after this race, I have my eyes set on the Runner's World Half Marathon festival 3.5 weeks later and I don't know if I want to attempt the hat trick (5k, 10k, half-marathon). THENNN comes the NJ Trail Series One Day in November which is another timed event on a 1 mile loop. Don't know if I want to run that or attempt a marathon instead. I guess I have to figure all of this out!

Okay, I'm realizing that tonight's post is a lot of text to read and for that, I don't want to keep typing too much more. I'll go into the "vegan love" aspect of this post tomorrow instead as I don't have any images to share with you, unfortunately.

Happy Running!

Just not feeling it...it happens

So I left the school building at 6pm again, and was bummed that it was raining. Had it not been raining, I probably would have scrounged up some motivation to go out and run, but that just wasn't the case. 

It took me 20 slow minutes to move about my house to get my running clothes together and by the time I actually got my clothes on what little motivation I had to go run had altogether diminished. I searched for an image to portray how I felt during this situation and this captures my feeling almost exactly:

 ....I say "almost exactly" because, "Good, I'll get your shoes," was replaced with, "Okay, put away your shoes." 

So I decided to take a day off and just eat dinner at a somewhat normal time and get some work done for school. 

Idk. I don't get these days often where I am just not feeling it, but that's exactly how I felt today. I felt off and I've learned, mostly from my conversations with Val, that it's okay to have those days and to accept that they are a normal part of training. However, now that I'm working full-time I have to watch how often those days might sneak up on me because I don't want to fall into a running rut. 

As promised, here are a couple shots of my go-to salad for the past week and a half or so. 

Start off with the greens. Plain spinach usually suffices for me as well.

End with the greatness. Cut up oranges, strawberries, cucumbers and blueberries. That's all she wrote. No dressings needed although maybe soon I'll include a recipe for a tasty homemade dressing after I consult with Val. She used to make her own for her salads she'd take to work so I know she has some good ideas. 

Okay that's all for tonight. Still debating this whole marathon thing. I'll keep you all posted! If it wasn't so late and therefore the most expensive the marathon fee gets then I would be all over it..but sadly that's not the case and I am left to debate what I should do.

Oh well.

Happy running!!

Marathon in less than 4 weeks?? Maybe

Happy Monday everyone! 

I really don't like that I have to write these posts so late at night, but I don't quite see an alternative...I guess it's just the reality. Today was the first day of school for our new students and it was a great day. My school is pretty strict on behavior and procedures so this week is really a student orientation week just on behavioral and daily expectations, which have proven to really help the students succeed in the long run...all that matters, right? 

So I was up at 5:30am and didn't leave the school building until 6 so it was quite a long day. I'll get used to those hours, but what I have to make sure I don't give up is my running. So knowing that I had to get a run in, I had to fuel up properly to give me sustainable energy throughout the day. After a day of poor eating yesterday (Tostitos and salsa, spiced ginger snap cookies, kettlecorn popcorn, and who knows what else), I was relieved to be forced to be back on track with my eating.

For lunch I've been packing a packed salad which I will take a picture of tomorrow morning to share with you all, but it's just greens with sliced up oranges, strawberries, blueberries and cucumbers. Simple, but such incredible flavors when combined into one juicy bite. Then there's the apple, baggy of fresh cucumber slices, carrots, and cherry tomatoes, and today I had a cherry pie Larabar as an afternoon snack to tide me over until a late dinner after my late run. Larabars were never my fancy, but after my dad bought a handful of them last week I've been hooked. Clif are still my favorite, but there a bit too heavy for just a small snack. 

Speaking of running though, I had an amazing 15 miler on Sunday. I wasn't and still am not sure what kind of running I should be doing right now given that I have nt yet registered for a race for the fall so I decided to run a 90 minute run Saturday and a 15 miler Sunday. These times/distances weren't actually planned until that morning, but I knew I wasn't going out for anything more than 2 hours. I just wasn't feeling it. 

The 11 miles mile run I got in on Saturday was okay; I didn't feel great about it, but I was glad to have gone for at least 90 minutes. Sunday's run on the other hand was amazing. I managed to go 7:31 pace for the 15 miles and felt like I was running on clouds. My new Asics Excel 33 3's are super light and comfortable and, to be honest, I was worried how my feet were going to feel after a quick paced longer run like that given my experience in light shoes for longish distances, but my feet were completely fine. In fact, I enjoyed the run so much that I'm thinking about signing up for the Via Health Network Marathon in Lehigh Valley on September 7th. I was contemplating this marathon back in May after I ran the NJ Marathon at the end of April, but decided against it and now I'm back to thinking I want to do it. I'll keep you posted! I don't foresee a BQ time, but something about the marathon is calling me back already. 

That's all the posting I'm going to do tonight...too much other stuff to get to. I realize I didn't post any pictures so I'll be sure to make sure that doesn't happen any time soon!

Before I go...

I want to acknowledge Robin Williams on a fantastic career in the multimedia industry. When I found out that this great actor and comedian passed away, I felt truly sad for the first time in a long time which makes sense because a prominent person in our culture has sadly passed. 

I just want to share the three films that I will forever remember. I will always be grateful to Robin Williams for giving these to my world. I know there not his Oscar winning films or anything, but they impacted my life so that's all that matters.

Patch Adams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPJ22JDFjI

Aladdin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FGfUdzj2Sc

Mrs. Doubtfire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0l2T7iF0Ro

   

Can't get it together!

I just can't get it together. I feel like my hours are just running into the next at lightning speed and I can't slow them down! Even tomorrow I want to get out for 2 hours and run but have a bunch of teaching/classroom-related errands to get done. It's going to be stretch, but I can't sacrifice my runs. They are what keeps me whole.

For tonight...please read Ben's story as it really is an inspiring story.

Also, I have to share with you all that I was "published" (my comment to the Editor) in the September Issue of Runner's World which is on a newsstand near you! I can't believe they decided to publish my comment.

Sooo ecstatic to see my name in such a prominent magazine for the running community I just love so much! Btw...read the article I am raving about. It was truly a fantastic and relatively short read which is what prompted me to share my delight with RW.

That's all for tonight!

Happy Running!!