Freezer Meal Swap Night! AND a Giveaway :)

In the past I’ve done all my freezer meal creation on my own, but a couple friends and I have been talking for a while about getting together to do a meal swap.  Lindsay had her second baby last year and is due to head back to work in a week, so she was eager to get some meals in the freezer to get ready for the busyness of working full time and having two kiddo’s at home.  Laura is just a couple weeks from her due date with her second baby and is equally eager to get some meals in the freezer in anticipation of the craziness of having a newborn at home (plus her VERY active almost 2 year old).  We decided to each bring the ingredients for 4 meals (x 3 batches), which would be 36 meals in total (12 each to bring home).  Not only would we go home with 12 meals, but we’d get to try out some new recipes – WIN-WIN!

The Boston buzz is giving me the racing bug!

 

LOVING Spring Running!!!

I warn you, this might be a rambly post.  I’m trying to figure out how my year is going to unfold.  All the buzz about the Boston marathon this weekend has got me excited, excited to race, and dreaming about one day being at the Boston Marathon!  I’m also just exited about how well my training is going, and how well my body is handling marathon training.  After my very first marathon cycle 9 years ago I really wondered if I was cut out for marathons.  I’ve learned so much since then, and am training so much smarter, and it’s really paying off.

So far this year I only have the Calgary Marathon on June 1st, and a fun trail race in August on my racing schedule.  The biggest question in my mind is whether I’m going to run a second marathon this year, and if I am, should it be before the Boston 2015 deadline of September 14th.  I ran the Seattle Marathon on Dec 1st, so will of had a 6 month spread between it and my spring marathon.  This has worked really well for me and I haven’t felt like I’ve rushed back into training, or like my body wasn’t ready for it.  If I race another in early September, that’s just 3 months between.  I’m trying to decide if that’s too close, if my body needs more of a break, or if I can launch from this cycle into another and keep feeling great.  I’m not going to make this decision until after this marathon, I feel like I need to get through this one, and see what my time is and how I feel during and after it.

I think I’ve started rehashing this decision in my mind partly because of the Boston Marathon being this weekend, but also because I’m trying to decide whether to race a local half that’s 5 weeks after my marathon.  I’ve been watching my friends races and am starting to get antsy for a race!  I am registered for the Police Half next weekend, but with 32 km’s (20 miles) on the schedule that day, it isn’t going to be a racing effort.  I haven’t raced a half since SeaWheeze last August, and I feel like I’m faster, and I feel like I didn’t race that one very well.  I’m excited to try to go out and race something close to my PR, and also thinking that if I can get a fast half under my belt this year, it might just give me the confidence to try to BQ in a full marathon.

As for this week, I’ve got a big week planned with the first hard workout tomorrow morning.  It’s a tempo run with 3 x 2 miles at tempo pace, and 14 km’s total.  I also have a massage scheduled at 9 am, so my goal is to be out the door by 6:30 at the latest.  Next Sunday will also be our first 20 miler of the year, with the last 21.1 km’s being the Police Half Marathon.  I’m excited to be in the racing atmosphere but a little sad that I’m not racing it.

How is your training going?  How many marathons do you do in a year?  Have you BQ’ed?

Long Run Fueling, and my first peak week this cycle

This week marks the first peak week in this marathon cycle, my total distance after today’s 30 km long run is around 83 km’s.  So far things are going really well.  I’m feeling way less beat up than I was at this point in my Seattle marathon cycle.  I’m doing a bit of experimenting with my long run fueling also.  For the Seattle marathon, I followed the traditional method of taking gels every 45 minutes or so during all my long runs.

Donate to the Underwear Affair AND enter a Giveaway!!

I’ve eluded to this contest in a few past posts, but I think with June approaching quickly, I’d like to officially start it!  As I’ve posted about a million times, my major running goal this spring is the Calgary Marathon… Well I’m also doing a 10 km “race” 6 days after the marathon.  I know that sounds crazy, and I can assure you that there won’t be any PR’s or PB’s coming out of this race, but it’s a good cause, and one I try to do every year, so once again I’m running it this year.  It is the Calgary Underwear Affair! 

The making of The Wizard of Oz cake

We celebrated my oldest daughter’s birthday yesterday.  It’s hard to believe that she is turning 4 this week!!  It’s been a tradition for me to make and decorate a cake for my kids.  Last year Maiya was completely obsessed with the Big Bad Wolf, and I made a Big Bad Wolf cake, with Little Piggie cupcakes.  It was my first effort at a fancy, decorated type cake, and it came out really well I think.  This year when I asked Maiya what she anted, she was at first still very obsessed with the Big Bad Wolf and was still stuck on that topic, but just in the last few weeks, she’s seen and fallen in love with The Wizard of Oz.