Lightened Mac'n'Cheese

Tuesday I told you about my treadmill running.  Today, I'd like to discuss running outside!  Long runs are best done outside. The monotony of the treadmill would make any run longer than four or five miles a chore. Boyfriend prefers running outside.  Mostly because he falls off the treadmill.  His legs are too long.  He also likes running in the rain and cold.  Something about "earning it."

My 8am, 6 mile run this Saturday took my from my apartment, down a wide street and through the park. It was exactly six miles, an out and back run with a loop through the park. On my outdoor runs, I keep track of my pace and mileage with MapMyRun+ on my iPhone. It tracks me with satellites and records my route down to the closest 1/100th of a mile.

The nice lady in the app tells me when I reach each mile and how fast I'm going. I know that if my pace drops below nine minutes per mile, that I need to pick up my feet for the next mile. The mile callouts are helpful when I'm doing an out and back run, rather than a loop.

When my workout is over, the app shows me my splits for every mile I ran, along with a terrain map. That way I can tell that lost a minute from my pace when I was heading uphill.

This weekend I'm heading to Buffalo to visit my parents and the Perry's ice cream factory. This means that I will be doing my long run in the Buffalo cold. I bought a hat and gloves just for the trip! I will even show my mom how to track me on her phone, just so she can make sure I didn't slack off and stop at my brothers house for a break!

Three and a half weeks until my half marathon and I'm looking forward to it! We'll see if BF joins me on my run, he's been too busy to train with me! Silly work is getting in the way. Now I just have to find the perfect running outfit and I'll be ready to hit the starting line.  I can tell you one thing, it will be neon and you'll see me coming!

Today I made you something ahead of time!  I've been spending a bit of time each Sunday, preparing a meal that BF can just put in the oven.  This way dinner can be on the table when I get home, with minimal work from either of us.  Starting in April this will be a biweekly post, so stay tuned for Make Ahead Mondays!  This week, I made you some lightened mac'n'cheese.  Yum.

Homemade Thin Mints

My marathon training continues as it seems to be getting easier to run these longer and longer distances. This weekend was my first "long run," with me logging six miles on a chilly Saturday morning. The training program that I am following gradually increases the weekday runs, from 2 miles to 5 miles, while the long Saturday runs increase by two miles each weekend.

During the week I like to use the treadmill. Especially since I run either very early in the morning (like my 5am, 4 miler yesterday) or late at night (I have a 5 mile run set for 9pm tonight). Right now it's dark outside at those times of day!  Though the best thing about running on the treadmill are speed intervals.

My usual running pace is between 8:30 and 9:30 per mile. I can run at this pace very comfortably and breathe normally. On the treadmill, I tend to get bored about a mile before I hit my goal distance. What do I do? I increase the speed until I'm breathing heavily and have to work hard to keep up with the belt. Yesterday I maxed out at 7:00 per mile.

Speed intervals not only help me bust out those last quarter miles in no time, but they also train my legs for the faster speed. After a week of speed intervals on the treadmill, I find my overall pace when running outside has improved!  Then I come back to the apartment and have a few post-run cookies!

Wilde Week #8

1. Three books this week! Mostly because I neglected to tell you about my book of the week last week. They are all pretty quick reads, so load one onto your kindle and cozy up with a hot drink.

Book 1 - Culinary Reactions - The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking by Simon Quellen Field.  I was so disappointed in this book.  I got this book as a Christmas present and have been waiting to read it.  I thought it would be fun and interesting to learn the science behind cooking and baking.  Sadly, I'm not quite sure who this book was written for.  For someone with a PhD in organic chemistry, this book was a bit too simplistic.  For someone with no chemistry background, this book is too complex.

Book 2 - Bonjour 40 by Karen A. Chase.  Another blog turned book, but I really enjoyed this one.  It made me want to travel to Paris again, but stay for a month of my own.  I do this a lot with travel essays.  They give me wanderlust and I find myself looking at flights on kayak for the next week.

Book 3 - before i fall by Lauren Oliver.  Yes, I have a problem and I love reading teen lit.  Don't judge.  A story about a mean high school girl who dies in a car accident, but that's just chapter one.  Then the day happens again.  This book is probably a great read for any high school student to help them reflect on bullying and how they treat people around them.  Personally, it depressed me and made me not want to have kids that grow up into teenagers.  Great story though, I'd totally recommend it.

2. This Friday at work we had our annual Pub Quiz. Although due to new company rules, it was an alcohol free pub quiz, which I think is just called trivia. Nonetheless, I'm apparently stupid. No really, I thought I knew random things? Nope, I'm a big ole dummy. You want to know which question I got right? Name one president, other than Lincoln or Kennedy, that has been assassinated. McKinley. Boom, I know stuff. The other thirty-nine questions? Yeah, I'm gonna pass on those.

3. I should also confess that I regularly play trivia with BF... We spend most Friday nights out at dinner, playing Sporcle on the iPad. Want to waste a few hours of your life, testing your general knowledge of useless things? Go here, you'll totally be sucked in. Don't say I didn't warn you.  Still, this weekly trivia did not help me at work.
4. Marathon training continues around here. This week I was on my own an in the gym because 1. BF had major work this week and couldn't come with and 2. It's been cold out. So far this week I've run ten miles with my big six mile run coming up later today! I'm thinking I need to get some new running shoes. Hot pink ones, like this. I will look really fast in them.

5. Can you believe that next week is the season finale for Pretty Little Liars? I feel like it just started back up a few weeks ago! And there has been so much going on this season, I'm so glad that I'm not one of these girls. My high school life was comparably boring! Don't watch PLL? You should. It's silly and suspenseful and dramatic and I want to dress like these girls, even though I'm 31.

6. I think I'm obsessed with marshmallow treats. I made a batch last week with biscoff. This week I turned a box of Lucky Charms into squares. Now I'm thinking of taking these freeze-dried raspberries and mixing them with marshmallow and cereal. Help me! I have a marshmallow addiction!

7. Nail polish of the week? I'm a little boring this week. I'm sporting haymarket by nails inc. LONDON under a layer of beyond cozy sparkle polish by essie.  My nails are so sparkly!

8. Are you ready for St Patricks day?  If not, head here, here or here and get inspired!  I'm going to put on my green pants and maybe make some more Lucky Charms treats!