Hey friends! Hope you had a WONDERFUL weekend!
First thank you to everyone who has already voted for Dyson to help her win $10,000 for Freedom Service Dogs. I really appreciate the support. If you missed that post over the weekend, it’s not too late to check it out and cast your vote!
Weekend 2 of marathon training is behind me (maybe a new FitFeature: Marathon Mondays?) I was a little nervous about this one because the speed of progression from my 5.48 mi run 2 weeks ago, to 7.6 last weekend to 9.14 this past Saturday had me a little worried that my knees were really going to make me pay. But I took a lot of care post-run and the day afterward ended up being completely pain free. Here’s how the day went down:
We were meeting at 7:00 AM and I had a 30 minute drive. I ate my pre-run food at 5:30 (you know me and my 90 minute rule!) It was a morning in need of some EXTRA BOLD coffee:
And this time I only did ONE piece of Ezekial toast (last time I did two and it felt to ‘heavy’ in my system even 90 minutes later). A light schmear of almond butter, a drizzle of raw honey and some coconut flakes:
At 6:30 I was out the door. Check out the MOON! (Horribly blurry I know, but my camera does NOT take dark pictures well at all…)
When we started the run at 7:00 it was 19 degrees and breezy. I was sorry that I hadn’t brought along my scarf to wrap around my face. And it turned out to be cold enough to freeze the water in the tube from my hydration pack completely SOLID – no water for the entire run! I started feeling the lack of water around mile 7 - a little sluggish and really thirsty from breathing the cold air. That was the only downside. The run itself was fantastic. It was a clear morning, the company and conversations were great, and the time flew by, making it seem almost easier than the 7.6 the week before.
Taking Brendan Brazier’s advice, I did want to fuel during the run with coconut oil and dates. But I didn’t take the time to make his Direct Fuel Bites recipe – instead I cut the pits out of two dates and where the pits had been I stuffed coconut oil. They worked great during the run – I ate them at the halfway point when we turned around. Easy to chew and digest.
Directly after the run I was meeting up with a friend at Starbucks so on the way, I drank a glutamine recovery drink and ate two dried PLUMS.
At Starbucks I had an unpictured grande decaf soy latte.
I was limping around pretty good by this point – both of my knees were getting incredibly tight and achy. So when I did make it home I went straight to the floor for some stretching. I spent about 20 minutes really focusing on calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, piriformis and hip flexors.
I took two Ginger Root caps to fight off some inevitable inflammation (many many thanks to Joan for the ginger tip back when my hip was stiff!) Then I ran a hot bath and steeped myself in some TEA:
All of these little tricks worked because I felt great the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. MSP even commented on how well I was moving around compared to last week’s run.
Bring on the TEN next week – I’m ready!
Speaking of long runs, Berni will be running her first half-marathon next weekend, so let’s all put some FAST FitFeat vibes out there for her! And Carrie starts her training next week for her next half-marathon as well! And reader Beth will be deciding whether to take the plunge into full marathons or not by week’s end. She’s been a half-marathon pro recently, traveling around the country to race in a lot of fun events! Sammi signed up for a half in September! Cindy wants to run her first 5K this year (which I KNOW she’s already completed on the treadmill, so I think she means in a race format…) 
Lots of running goals goin’ on! I LOVE THAT!! What’s yours? Share your running or fitness goal here! We love giving out good luck vibes!
Have a MARVELOUS Monday friends! Make it a great day and a FIT week!
– Shari B. =)
