Whole30: My morning drill

On day 3 of Whole30, all is going well. Monday was a reminder to always make about 50% more food than you think you'll need -- I was starving when I got home, and we ran out of sweet potatoes at dinner. Cardinal sin! Despite the -15 degree temperatures, I made an emergency grocery store run for more of, well, everything.

Now we're stocked, and all is well for a few days. I'm eating well, feeling good, and having fun. Here's the recap so far:

Monday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Half a large baked sweet potato, roasted almonds, black coffee.
Lunch: Big salad (spinach, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo)
Snack: Almonds, rest of the sweet potato. Later, dried fruit and a few pistachio nuts.
Dinner: Polish sausage with tomatoes and cauliflower. I was going to eat another sweet potato but my 7 year old stole it.
After dinner: Jicama slices dipped in paleo mayo. Yum.

Here's my morning breakfast-making and lunch-assembling drill:
1. Start making coffee.
2. Start assembling lunch. For the salad, I start by filling a 5.5 cup container with lettuce or spinach (this is an OXO Good Grips -- I recommend the rectangular one, but not the square one, as the lid tends to pop off).

Pardon the blurry pictures; I'm still mastering this whole food-photography thing.

My general formula for salad is greens + 2-4 other things + olive oil + balsamic vinegar. The "other things" can include roasted peppers, roasted eggplant, avocado, leftover veggies, green beans, sprouts, or almonds. Today, I did roasted peppers, eggplant, spouts, and clementines. Therefore, my next step was
3. Roast anything that needs roasting. I do this directly on the burner of my gas stove, on the lowest flame setting. It takes 5 min or so. Watch closely so you don't set things on fire.

Pepper before...

... and after.

Eggplant before...

... and after!

 4. Assemble salad.

With oranges and eggplant...

... plus sprouts and peppers. Then I pour about 2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and about 1 Tbsp balsamic over it, and it's ready to go!

 5. Meanwhile, microwave a couple of sweet potatoes.

The top one is a white sweet potato. Firmer texture (almost a little crumbly), and not quite as sweet. Both are good.

6. Pack tuna salad. I make a batch that lasts 3 days, using the following recipe:

Tuna salad (3 meals' worth)

Mix in a bowl:
2 cans tuna packed in olive oil, lightly drained
3-4 Tbsp paleo mayonnaise
2 stalks celery, chopped
Optional items (add one or many):
1/2 apple, diced
2 Tbsp sliced almonds or other nuts
1 green onion, sliced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 Tbsp capers
8 kalamata olives, halved
Anything else that looks good

I often fill the rest of the 2.5 cup container with other veggies. Today, I tried frozen green beans (haricots verts from Trader Joe's) and some extra roasted pepper. It was pretty awesome!

Blurry but delicious

7. Coffee's done. Start breakfast! Melt ghee in the pan, and add a bunch of kale.

 Crack the eggs in...

 ... and break the yolks up with a spatula.

Add jalapenos. Cook till the edges are set and the greens are browning, then flip and cook a couple more minutes.

 8. Warm up some previously roasted pumpkin. I dusted it with smoked paprika and salt this morning, which was nice.
9. Breakfast!

Love it!

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Baked sweet potato, almonds, black coffee.
Lunch: Big salad (lettuce, a clementine orange, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top. Almonds.
Snack: Dried fruit, almonds.
Dinner: Taco salad: Big bowl of lettuce and spinach topped with 1/2 avocado and about 1/4 lb ground beef cooked with onion, green pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Taco meat!

Salad!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Baked sweet potato, almonds, black coffee.
Lunch (planned): Big salad (lettuce, a clementine orange, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top. Almonds.
Dinner: We're eating out! Probably at Brasa (aka paleo comfort food heaven).

Whole30, the January edition!

We're jumping onto the January Whole 30 bandwagon today, about six days late. (Holiday travel and family visits didn't seem like a good way to start out). When we did our first Whole 30 in June, I felt pretty awesome a couple weeks in: strong, and lean, and snacking less, and eating piles of vegetables. It was a great kick-start to changing my diet.

A lot of the benefits have persisted: I changed my standard breakfast from oatmeal with dried fruit to a three-egg omelet with vegetables... and now I'm not starving at 9:30 am (except during peak training weeks). Eliminating dairy products and late night popcorn has taken care of most of my (infrequent) GI problems during long runs. I've cracked the lunch code: a big salad and tuna in olive oil carries me through the afternoon. And we're still eating boatloads of vegetables.

This morning's breakfast! 3 egg omelet with kale and pickled jalapenos (cooked in ghee), roasted pumpkin, black coffee.

Since June, I've added back in rice (a little in my omelet and some with my lunch tuna) and occasional white potatoes, which I am okay with, though I'll cut them back out for Whole 30. Occasional black beans, corn tortillas and a beer every once in a while I can live without for a month. My big goal this time, though, is cutting back on the sugar that's crept back into my diet, mainly in the form of dark chocolate and my Sunday post-run fancy coffee drink. I've never had much of a sweet tooth, but it'll be nice to re-set my palate and my eating habits.

Oh, and finally, we got two great paleo cookbooks for Christmas: Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed and Michelle Tam and Henry Fong's Nom Nom Paleo. A great excuse to try out some new recipes!

So, last night I did a bunch of prep:

• I made paleo mayonnaise with my immersion blender (wow! this was stupid easy! you should try it)
• Made a batch of ghee starting with a pound of local grassfed butter
• Chopped a couple onions
• Washed and tore up a head of lettuce for salad
• Roasted a pumpkin
• Dismembered and partially cooked a head of cauliflower (wow, that makes me sounds like a serial killer or something). 

The fridge is full of veggies, five dozen eggs, Whole 30-friendly sausage, and a couple of meals' worth of Whole 30-friendly leftovers from the weekend (chicken soup and braised oxtails, yum).

Aaaaand, this morning, we're off! Breakfast is a 3-egg omelet with kale and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee, and roasted pumpkin. And black coffee.

What's that? Want a recipe? Okay, here goes:

Quick Veggie-ful Omelet (serves 1-2)

1 Tbsp ghee, coconut oil, or lard
1-2 cups thin-sliced vegetables (I usually use sturdy greens of some sort -- kale is good, as are beet and turnip greens, chard, peppers, onions, summer squash)
2-4 eggs
Optional: Something salty or spicy like pickled jalapeno slices, olives, or capers

Melt cooking fat in a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over medium heat. Add vegetables. If there's peppers or squash, let them cook a couple minutes. Greens don't need this. Crack eggs directly on top of veggies and break the yolks up with a spatula. Add optional salty/spicy goodies. DO NOT STIR. (The veggies are browning and stirring will make things stick). Cook over medium heat till it's set around the edges (5 min or so), then flip it over, hopefully in one piece. Cook a couple more minutes. Eat!

Okay, off to the gym -- with a windchill of -45F (seriously!), it's not an outside running kind of day :-)

Review: GrazeBox

I'm not a big "box" person. Birchbox, Nature Box, Stride Box, Kona Kase... I haven't tried any of them. First, I'm cheap. $20 or $25 a month seems like a lot to spend on stuff that I'm not sure I'll like. Second, I'm a creature of habit. Why do I need to try new stuff? I know what I like.

Even so, I was intrigued to get a card in a shipment from Sierra Trading Post advertising a new "box": GrazeBox. The good part? A box of snacks was only $6 a shipment, and the first one was free.

What the heck, I decided to check out the website, graze.com. There are currently 90 different snacks on offer. You can go through them one by one and flag them to come to you frequently, sometimes, or never. There are also shortcuts to eliminate all snacks containing gluten, or dairy, or non-vegetarian ingredients.

I went through and eliminated everything with dairy and most things with gluten (which still left me with 49 snacks to be randomly selected from), and signed up. You need an invitation code to sign up, and then can share it with others. Feel free to use mine: "ROBYNR8MR".

My first box got here the other day. Here's the details:

GrazeBox, with a quarter for size reference.
It came with a thin plastic sleeve around it to keep it shut.

Turned over...

... and opened. The flyer had information about Graze School of Farming in Uganda, their charity, and my invitation code.

Four snacks, each 1.2-1.3 ounces (about 1/3-1/2 cup total). Nutrition information and ingredients are not labeled on the packages, but are available on the website. These range from 95-200 calories per serving. 

Graze's Chocolate Orange: Belgian dark chocolate, orange infused raisins, and hazelnuts.

Spicy Corn Taco: spicy chili peanuts, roasted corn (think corn nuts), and roasted edamame. (I've eaten about half).

Seedsational: roasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds with soy sauce

The fourth snack was "Little Figgy Went to Market": apple, cranberries, and dried figs dusted with rice flour.

So far I've tried the Spicy Corn Taco and the Seedsational. Spicy Corn Taco has a nice texture, with crunchy corn nuts and edamame, and lightly roasted peanuts. The flavoring is pretty mild: it's not especially salty, and not very spicy. Nice, but the texture and the good ingredients are better than the "spicy" flavoring. The Seedsational is pretty good. Nice salty tamari flavor, good nut flavor. I would get it again.

The verdict? Not a bad deal. For $6 a box (and the first and fifth ones free), you get four decent-sized snacks, delivered to home or work, every 2 weeks. There's lots of variety, and there are good gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian choices. Fewer Whole30/paleo options, but there are a number of mixes that are only dried fruit and/or nuts, so that's covered too. The website makes it easy to control what you get, so if I liked the Seedsational, I can put it on the "send again" list; if I'm meh on Spicy Corn Taco, I can request it never be sent.

Oh, a final point: I'm impressed by their customer service. My first box went missing somewhere in the depths of our shipping/receiving department. When I contacted Graze (on Christmas Eve!), I got an email within 20 minutes crediting my account with a free shipment and apologizing for the loss. Thanks!

Want to try GrazeBox for yourself? First box is free. Go over to graze.com and use invite code "ROBYNR8MR". Happy snacking!

[Disclaimer: I did not receive products, services, or anything else for this review. I just wrote it because I kind of like this service.]

Deep thoughts at the end of the running year

It's been a good year for running. There's been elation, disaster, recovery, comedy, self-discovery, friendship, a little of everything. It was the first year I ran trails in a serious way, the first year I did an ultra, the first year I ran socially. I'm still enjoying an "off season", though I am looking ahead to January, when I'll start gearing up the long runs again. In the meantime, I've been reflecting a little on things I learned this year. In no particular order, a few insights:

1. I can do this. At the beginning of the year, my major goal was to train for and run a 50K trail race. Spring Superior 50K, in May, was a huge achievement for me. As the year evolved, other plans came up: recover from my broken elbow, run with friends on trails, volunteer, run in beautiful places. I recovered from iron deficiency anemia and trained for and ran two more 50K races, Wild Duluth and Icebox 480. At the end of the year, I can say that I can run 50Ks. And that's not something I knew a year ago.

Spring Superior!

Wild Duluth!

Icebox 480! I swear I actually own more than one shirt.

2. I am a lazy runner. I can run all day. No, literally, all day (or at least, 8 hours). Hey, all you need to do that is time (and Larabars). But running fast? Hoo boy, that hurts. I did no speedwork this year -- basically, it was all endurance mode, all the time. I know I've got another gear and that I can go faster (heck, I did it last week on the track), but I've got to overcome my natural inclination to keep it easy all the time.

Endless Summer Murphy 10K with Amy.
Ran this one as hard as I could in the heat.

3. There are things I'm good at. On trails, I get passed going up hills, but pass lots of people on the descents. Somewhere along the way, I actually figured out something about descents! Even if I'm not going fast, I can keep moving for a long time. I've figured out how and what to eat and drink, most of the time. And I have a very high pain threshold (but am finally figuring out the difference between pain I should run through, and pain that should make me stop).

Zumbro 17 mile. Broke my right elbow at mile 2.

You don't want this kind of race bling.

4. Running long on trails = no overuse injuries! Looking back at my training logs from the last few years, I noted when I was having pain. Achilles tendon, plantar fascia, posterior knee tendon, hamstring -- they've all been a little "tweaky" at one time or another. I'd rest, maybe ice, do water running, and if all else failed go see my excellent ART guy. Looking back at this year, though, the last time I saw him was way back in May! He fixed some early PF a few days before Spring Superior. Since then -- and, not coincidentally, since I started doing long runs exclusively on trail -- I've had a few minor ouches and tweaks here and there, but nothing that kept me away from running for more than a couple of days.

I'm pretty sure other things have helped too. I started paying serious attention to my core and posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, glutes) last fall when I began doing kettlebell classes at the YWCA. I started doing a lot more yoga around the same time. I keep a foam roller in my office as well as one at home, and I use them. A lot. The added strength and flexibility are making a big difference in my injury-free running.

Courtyard yoga!

... and some box jumps for fun.

5. The races will still be there next year. I signed up for the TC Marathon this year. Sort of trained for it, but iron deficiency anemia really sidetracked my late-summer running. Despite the fact that I was heading into race week with my last long road run two months previous (and only 11 miles, and it damn near killed me), it was still a major internal struggle to decide not to run it. Heather over at relentlessforwardcommotion has talked about FOMO, or fear of missing out, as an impetus to do things you shouldn't/wouldn't/aren't ready for. Her essay on it came at just the right time, and I kept reminding myself: The race will still be there next year.

I had a little FOMO over the last few weeks, as Frontrunner Sports did their Black Friday discounted entries into the Chippewa 50K and I didn't sign up, and then worse the other weekend when registration for the Ice Age 50 Mile filled in just a couple of hours. Spring is not a good time for me to train for a 50 miler, but still, it was hard to let the idea go. I just have to remember, I've only been doing this a year. There are years and years of great races ahead of me. Deep breaths.

Deena did the TC Marathon (her first) and killed it!
So much fun to do some training runs with you.

Those are some of my insights from the 2013 year in running. What's next? I'm not so big into "new year goals". Why pick an arbitrary time -- the change of the calendar -- to decide what to do next? But I'm pretty sure the coming year will include more trails, more weights, and hopefully some more speed. The most important thing is that it includes lots of runs in beautiful places, alone and with friends. I can work out the rest as I go along.

Have a great New Year!

I just can't get enough of this picture.

Review: INKnBURN tech tube

It's winter in Minnesota, and so far it's been a righteously cold December. Lots of subzero nights and single-degree days, and a memorable 10-miler in -10 degrees. I weighed my running gear recently and discovered I'm putting on 4+ pounds of clothing, not counting shoes, just to stave off hypothermia while running.

So when INKnBURN asked me to write a review of a piece of cold-weather gear, my honest first thought was, "It's too cold for INKnBURN!" This time of year, I'm usually wearing technical merino baselayers and miracle-fiber outer layers. But it occurred to me that my Drifting Petals Tech Tube (like a Buff, but from the same fabric as INKnBURN's tech shirts) might actually be an ideal cold-weather layering piece.

I tested it out this morning. It was zero degrees Fahrenheit, with 10 mph winds on the river, which made for a windchill of -16F. I had a 6 mile run on tap.

Dressed to run! Fleece-lined merino wool hat, Tech Tube as a neck gaiter.

It still hasn't gotten cold enough to need the hood. I think my face would freeze first.

I set off heading into the wind. Two layers of merino plus a wind-blocking fleece gets my core toasty warm, but on previous similar runs, my face had definitely gotten chilly. The Tech Tube kept my neck and chin plenty warm, even going straight into the wind.

Mile 3. Note the ice crystals on my face (and in my hair, sticking out).
I don't know why I have this expression. My face may have been frozen that way.

At mile 3, I crossed the Mississippi River and started heading back. Now the wind was behind me and, by the time I got to mile 4.5, I was actually getting pretty warm. When running in very cold weather, it's never a good idea to break much of a sweat -- if you get wet, then cold again, it's really cold. I unzipped my coat, then both of my baselayers. Still warm. I pulled off my hat. Whoops, too cold! 

Here's where the greatness of the Tech Tube came in -- I just folded it and pulled it up over my ears, and voila: earwarmer! Perfect for the next mile, until I headed back into the wind for the last section and needed my hat again.

Awkward profile selfie...

... and the other side.

So, the eternal question is now answered: It is never too cold for at least a little bit of INKnBURN.

Later this morning, I enlisted my seven year old assistant to help me show off some more Tech Tube tricks.

My photographer (and tech tube model)

As it turns out, his idea of photographing involved taking pictures at wacky angles. And giggling a lot.

Okay, there's a problem with this picture...

Well, at least my head is in the picture this time. Tech Tube as beanie...

... and beanie turned the other way!

Tech Tube as headband...

... and from a different angle.

Why, yes, the photographer was spinning in circles during this one.
Why do you ask?

Scarf/neck gaiter/neck warmer.
Goes great with the Sakura long sleeve, doesn't it?

In conclusion:

1. It's never too cold for INKnBURN.

2. Tech tubes are versatile, comfortable, warm, and amazingly colorful.

3. Use my discount code ("RobynToldMe") at inknburn.com for a one-time 15% off discount!

4. My son has a future in fashion photography. Maybe.

Thanks, everyone!

Taking an off season

It's been 5 weeks since Icebox 480, my last "goal" race of the season. After finishing 50K there, my goal was to take a true "off season". I didn't necessarily need to stop running completely, but I wanted to drop my run volume and focus on recovery and doing fun stuff. I also wanted to kick-start my winter plan to add strength work back in (stopped doing this when I broke the elbow, and continued not doing it when I was in ultra training mode), and start doing speed work. I'm happy enough going the pace I go, but I have a nagging feeling that I could be going faster. This seems like a good time to test that idea.

Here's what I've been up to since Icebox:

• Week 1: I ran 14 miles, all slow, and did a bunch of yoga. Worked on making my left IT band better. Went to the Upper Midwest Trail Runners' awards banquet. Enjoyed the monster potluck buffet, laughed with friends, and heard hair-raising stories of the Iditarod Trail Invitational (a 350 mile race, in February, on, yup, the Iditarod Trail). No plans for that one any time soon, but wow.
• Week 2: Ran about 21 miles, including a track workout and an incredible run at Afton in the pre-dawn 10 degrees and wind. Did my first Olympic weightlifting workout (RAWR!) and a bunch of core strength work. Ran track repeats for the first time in forever. Loved it.

Afton. The sun was barely beginning to come up as we got up to the prairie loop.

It was the first really cold weekend, and Afton Alps was making snow.
Apologies for the blurry pictures, but flash obviously wasn't going to work.

Lots of snow blowing in from the ski area.
Yes, I'm wearing two hats in this picture.

Back up to the parking lot, and into a beautiful, sunny, cold day.

• Week 3: Ran 25 miles, including a 10K turkey trot (the Turkey Day Trail Trot at Battle Creek) and a fatass run at Afton. The turkey trot was a fun two loops through a 5K cross-country ski trail. Mostly wide trails, a couple miles of singletrack. I wanted  to negative split, and did it, running the first loop in 33:45 and the second in about 33:00. At Afton, I did about 10 miles, quite a bit faster than the week before! I had a great time running a few miles with some speedy friends who had already done one 25K loop. Even with that to slow them down, it was definitely a tempo pace for me. Fun to be up there with the front of the packers, even for a little ways! (I did catch myself thinking, "What the hell am I doing up here?!") I also did more Olympic weights and yoga.

What am I doing in this picture?! At least my INKnBURN shirt looks good.

• 
  



Turkey Trot pre-race. Same folks as at Afton, less clothing!



Off to a running start!

XC ski trails, then singletrack

A few rolling hills through the woods

Beginning of lap 2, and the clouds were clearing away!

Midrace. Me: Excuse me, you've got a turkey on your head.

Him: What?

Me: There's a turkey on your head!

Him: WHAT?

Me: TURKEY!!

Him: AAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

• Week 4: The beginning of some seriously cold weather. Ran 25 miles, including 10 miles at Jordan's Donut Run, where the starting temperature was -11F, not including wind chill (probably more like -20 or -25 with it, by the lake). Due to timing issues, I got to Nokomis at 6:50 am and ran 2.5-ish miles, then joined up with some friends at 7:20 for a lap around Nokomis so that we could get 12K miles for the Lunch the Chicken Memorial 12Kathon. (Don't ask. Suffice it to say that Stephanie was involved again.) THEN at 8 we started the 5 mile official Donut Run route, with stops at Mel-O-Glaze and A Baker's Wife. It was definitely the coldest run I've ever done, but I was dressed for it. And it was pretty fun to do it with friends! Also, Olympic weights, strength work, yoga.

• 

  Beginning of the official Donut Run. Same folks again (except for Stephanie), way MORE clothing.

  
  
  
  
  

Mel-O-Glaze apple fritter.

Can you believe 50 people showed up for a run in -11 temperatures?
I have truly found my people.

Butter cake at A Baker's Wife. Butter. Cake.

• Week 5 (this week): About 11 miles of running so far, planning a 3 hour run at Lebanon Hills tomorrow  morning (the longest I've run since Icebox) and a 1 hour Sunday run so will probably end up somewhere around 31 for the week. Indoor track workout yesterday, where I ran a blistering-for-me 8 min/mi pace doing 200, 400, and 600m intervals. I couldn't believe how great I felt doing this! More Olympic weights and strength work (I'm loving the muscle soreness that lasts for days afterwards). Spin class. Yoga. Having fun.

Gotta wrap this up. More soon on deep thoughts during my "off season", things I've learned as a runner in the last year, and starting to think about plans for next year. In addition to cutting back on running, I also have had a self imposed moratorium on race planning for the last 5 weeks. It's been good to have a quiet, unstructured season and I can tell my body is responding well to the new stuff I'm trying. We'll see, but I think this is going to take me good places heading into 2014!