Back in the groove

I finally got to run outside with my running group today and I must say, I’m pretty happy with myself. I haven’t run a long run outside in probably 6 weeks with the way this winter has been, so I was wary about how I’d feel. Our group usually sets out to run either 8 or 10 miles (I have no idea why) but I thought 6 would be enough for me. I didn’t know if I’d even be able to handle that much, but I wanted to have a goal in mind.

I made a “Sweet potato smoothie” as my pre-workout fuel …

• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 1 tbsp PB
• 1 tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 2 tbsp pureed sweet potato
• 1 tbsp flax

This held me over very well during my run and was just the right consistency. Not too thick, not too watery, and I didn’t feel “full” when I drank it. I think I may have found a new pre-run fuel!

Anyway, back to the run.

So after brushing off a thin layer of snow off my car (UGH!) I made my way down to the Mt. Vernon Trail to meet my group. It was a cold start but the sun was out so it didn’t take long for me to warm up. I started pacing with a woman who told me she’s also running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. We talked about pacing, the race’s course, and how the winter weather has taken a toll on everyone’s running. Before I knew it, we were at the 4 mile water stop, and I had barely broken a sweat.

My running partner decided she wanted to run the full 10 miles, so she moved on and I headed back to the starting point. At the water stop I started talking about sports (hey, it’s spring training for baseball) and that got me running back with a Yankees fan, Red Sox fan, and a local guy who’s an Orioles fan (sounds like the beginning of a joke…) The smack talk began, and holy shit I ran 8 miles without even realizing it! My Garmin told me I ran 8.02 miles in 1:14:49, averaging a 9:21 pace. Not too freakin’ shabby for not running a long run in 6 weeks. The pace was perfect; I never felt winded or like I needed to slow down or anything like that. It was basically a conversational pace.

However, there was a problem. My hip bothered me afterward. I stretched as much as I could at the park but when I came home, I made a date with my foam roller. I rolled the crap out of my hip/quad/IT band and MAN did that hurt! I just hope this helps take care of whatever the problem might be.

Gluten Free stuff

I’m trying really hard to eliminate gluten from my diet to see if this might be the reason for my bloating, gas, irregularity, etc. It’s really freaking hard. At one of the water stops there were homemade oatmeal cookies that everyone was raving about, so I grabbed one. I ate 1/2 of it, gave the rest to one of the runner’s dogs, and went on my way. It wasn’t until I was asked to join the group after the run at Panera Bread that I realized I ate 1/2 of that cookie. It’s so easy to forget that you have to be careful of EVERYTHING you put in your mouth. I’ve always been pretty cautious of what I eat since I’ve always had a sensitive stomach, but this is way beyond that. I know it’s going to take time to get used to, and also to get things out of my system, so I need to be patient. I’ve heard it could take up to 2 months before I’ll feel any kind of change, which seems kind of long and a little discouraging…