The Feed Zone (a.k.a Allen and Biju need to marry me)

Ugh...although I love the pink, not only do I still need to create a new header, the fonts aren't displaying on my iMac. Maybe because it's seven years old. Heh.

Just wanted to post a quick picture of what I've been eating lately. Last week I dusted off my copy of "The Feed Zone" (it really ISN'T made for off-season - too high calorie and high carb) and have fallen in love with it all over again.

Not a picture of my copy. MINE is all bent and stained, I mean "well-loved."

Last year I didn't branch out from a few favorite recipes, but in the past couple days I've been trying some new ones and they're all AMAZING. Last night I made the pork chili before my Bike Club meeting, and came home to a DELICIOUS hot, spicy treat on a freezing cold, snowy evening.

I also love that they can be prepared in advanced. Today I am in meetings all day (boo!) and have a ten-mile tempo run after work. This does not lend itself to cooking. However, some granola with almond milk, Orzo and Basil Salad (My book literally opens to this recipe. I ate it THAT MUCH during IMLP training last year), and Butter Lettuce, Chicken, and Strawberry Salad (or whatever the real name is)  in the fridge means I'm covered.

I mean, who WOULDN'T want to eat like this? That right there is bright, colorful, easy-to-make HEALTHY REAL FOOD.

I will kick this junk food habit to the curb if it KILLS me.

Work(s) in Progress

As you can see, the blog is a mess right now. My old header had me still in training for IMLP, which is obviously out-of-date. Since it's a picture and I no longer have the original one without text, I figured I might as well overhaul it. For now, well, I like pink. Sue me.

I'm still in overhaul too after nine weeks of off-season. I read somewhere that you need two weeks for each week off to get back to where you were, which is eighteen weeks, or FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS, to get back to where I was at the marathon. Yikes!

It definitely is showing. I'm still around 114 pounds despite training harder. My paces and heartrates are also pretty sad. A bit frustrating when the season is centered around PRs! I keep telling myself that it's only February, my first race isn't until the end of June, calm down. It's time to get serious, but no need to freak out just yet.

On a positive note, I really am putting in the work. Lots of tempo work, to be precise. It's a funny contradiction after two years of base building. My engine wants more volume, but my legs are constantly fried, leaving me both antsy AND hurting. LOL!

I'm putting in pretty good volume on the long days though - I'm already up to 10 miles of running and 45 cycling, all at race effort. Believe it or not. (Notice I said race EFFORT. Once again, fat and out-of-shape here isn't putting down anything near race PACE.)

So, it's February, or as Garfield called it, "The Monday of Months." We soldier on, and dream of warm days and fast races.