This was my final week of base building before the real fun begins. And by that I mean more mileage, 6 days of running per week, and the addition of speed and tempo workouts. But more on that later this week.

Monday- Rest.

Tuesday- 5 mile run. This was probably one of the worst runs I’ve had in awhile, but I got it done. I had to dash back to the house twice in the first 2 miles to use the restroom. After that, I threw in the towel and hopped on the treadmill (Treadmill Tuesday rides again!) to finish out the last 3 miles.

The reason this run was so not fun was a combination of things. I was full from dinner, felt bloated, was having stomach issues, and my upper back was hurting/felt tight. The crazy thing is my legs felt awesome. Go figure.

Wednesday- Rest. We went to the fair! It happened to be the night the pet show was taking place, and there was someone there with a 10 week old bloodhound puppy. So cute!

Okay, and the chocolate lab puppy is cute, too…

Thursday- 4 mile run on the roads around our house. Once again, I did an out and back to Black Hollow Hill and once again I conquered the hill! Woohoo.

I had the “three amigos” (as I’ve nicknamed them) cheering me on this week.

Friday- 5 mile run in the morning before work on the treadmill.

Saturday- Spartan Sprint Race (4.3 miles). This was my first obstacle course race and it was a blast. My little sister and her boyfriend came, too, and it was a lot of fun to go through it as a group. There was lots of mud and my waterproof camera became completely submerged at least three times in muddy water (it’s still alive). We survived and finished bloody and bruised, but not broken. (I’m not kidding about the bloody and bruised part).

Full race recap coming tomorrow morning. I got lots of pictures!

Sunday- 6 mile run in the morning on the W&OD Trail with my friend, Jackie. I was super sore from the Spartan race, but it definitely did me good to get out and move.

I was planning on running 10-12 miles, but I only had 6 on my schedule and that’s what I ended up doing. My legs were just sore from all of the cuts, scrapes, and bruises. But my entire upper body was as sore as your legs are the day after a full marathon.

Total Miles: 24 miles

Today I’m headed up towards the DC area to spend the weekend with my Dad and sister. Tomorrow morning my sister, her boyfriend, and I will be headed up to Maryland for the DC Spartan Sprint race! Barry was supposed to come, too, but unfortunately he had to work.

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for awhile. I’m pretty excited, because this will be my very first mud/obstacle race! The Hansons even have 4 miles on my schedule, so it was meant to be. Look how much fun we are going to have:

According to their website Spartan Race has been the global leader in obstacle racing since 2005. So it’s definitely the one to do for my first obstacle race! Tomorrow morning my little sister, her boyfriend, and I will face a 3+ mile course of mud and 15+ obstacles. In case you’re not familiar with mud and obstacle races, especially of the Spartan variety, here’s a video:

They better not knock me down with those things towards the end, though! I’ll just run through yelling “Don’t hurt me, I’m in marathon training!”

I’m looking forward to crossing the finish line tomorrow and then giving our best Spartan warrior yell. AROO!!

Have you ever done a mud or obstacle race?

Another Runners Tell All link-up is here! This month, the we’re talking about nutrition: how you fuel for race day and what types of fuel you use during a race. I’m pretty traditional with what I eat the day before a race: pasta! I don’t usually carbo-load the night before long runs, except for the longest of my long runs during training.

I also typically increase the amount of carbs I eat a few days before a big race. All the bread!

On the morning of a race or long run, I always drink a cup of coffee and have some type of Power Bar or Luna Bar. I also like to have a Honey Stinger Waffle pre-run/pre-race, but I’ve found that they’re too crumbly for me to eat on the run.

When it comes to actual running and races, I carry and use fuel on anything longer than 6 miles. I used to only use Shot Bloks, because my stomach couldn’t tolerate anything else.

But last year I got tired of having to chew the Shot Bloks while running, especially in the later miles of a race or long run. In the summer they would be too chewy and in the winter they’d often freeze. So I started using various types of gels. My favorites are Gu’s (especially Salted Caramel) and Honey Stinger gels.

I believe in the power of gels so much that I even left them for Santa last Christmas, to help keep him going!

Now a days I will typically carry a couple of gels and a small Ziploc snack bag of Shot Bloks. That way I will have both to choose from. It’s amazing how something that tastes good at mile 3 can become completely unappealing at mile 15.

What do you fuel with pre-run and during your run or workout?

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This week I continued to build my mileage during the base building phase of training. I was blessed with a few cool days with low humidity that made for some pretty enjoyable runs.

Monday- Rest.

Tuesday- 5 mile run on the treadmill. It ended up being another “Treadmill Tuesday” with Sven, continuing the theme of the past few weeks. Soon my Treadmill Tuesdays are going to be spent at the track, though!

Wednesday- Rest.

Thursday- 3 mile run in the morning before work. It was barely 50 degrees, and I was actually a bit chilly during this run. At least this time the polar vortex didn’t produce temperatures down to -31 like last time. Friday- 4 mile run on the roads around our house. Even though I ran in the middle of the afternoon, it was relatively cool and not very humid outside. Glorious! Another great thing about this run? I made it all the way up Black Hollow Hill without taking a walk break! That’s only the second time I’ve ever done that. According to my Garmin data, the hill is about 200 feet in elevation gain over 0.75 miles. But the first 125 feet of that happens during the first 0.4 miles, which I think is what makes this hill so tough. Saturday- 10 mile long run on the Dora and New River Trails. It felt more like April than July outside, with the temperature hovering around 60 and a steady rain throughout my run.

For some reason my pace was about a minute per mile slower than usual for the first half of the run. Then things picked up a bit and I ended the run with an average pace about 20 to 30 seconds per mile slower than usual. It felt like the same effort level and I still had a really enjoyable run, so I guess it was just a bit of an off day pace-wise.

I also saw a lot of deer during this run, including these two cute fawns!

Sunday- 5 mile run with Kim on the Dora Trail. The temperature was cool like it was on Saturday, but it wasn’t raining and was a lot muggier. This picture is kind of deceiving, as I think that’s the only time we saw the sun all day:

When we got back to the parking lot, a train was just making its way through town. I decided to try and grab a picture of it, with the post office and the courthouse clock in the background. I had intended to get the train a bit more in the picture, though. Next time.

Total Miles: 27 miles

Remember when I mentioned last weekend that I had a project on Sunday? Well it’s done, and the result is very tasty!

I’m always looking for different ways to use eggs, since we get six eggs a day from our chickens. Recently, one of my coworkers gave me a recipe for pickled eggs. I love to eat pickled eggs (also known as red beet eggs) on salads, and straight out of the jar as a snack. But I’ve never made my own before!

I started out by hard boiling twenty eggs. The recipe only called for a dozen, but fresh eggs are really hard to peel after being hard boiled. So I figured if I boiled twenty, I should end up with at least twelve usable ones.

Once the eggs were done boiling I got down to peeling them. Twenty eggs is a lot to peel! Luckily, I ended up with thirteen that were usable. I ate one of the unusable ones while it was still warm. I couldn’t resist 🙂

Next it was time to prepare the sauce while the eggs cooled. The recipe called for a mixture of vinegar, pickling spices, garlic, bay leaf, and pickled beet juice. I’m not going to share the exact recipe, since I haven’t asked permission to do so.

I mixed up the ingredients in a sauce pan and brought the mixture to a boil while stirring. Then I removed the pan from the heat and allowed the mixture to cool.

While the sauce was cooling, I sliced an onion (and cried while doing so, of course) and put the onion rings, along with the eggs, into jars. The jars are originally from my Nana, but my dad had them in the basement and brought me them back in April. I think they were left over from my wedding centerpieces.

I had the option of including the pickled beets or not. I decided to do one jar with six eggs and just onion slices, and the other two jars with three eggs each, onion slices and beets. Once the sauce was cool I poured it into each jar.

Then it was into the fridge for the next three days!

Do you ever make pickled eggs or veggies?
Does anyone else do any kind of canning?