Heading back to VT

It has been a fairly quiet week around here, but the perfect time to figure out what is wrong with my stomach/abdomen before heading back to school. After a week of appointments and tests I am forbidden from dairy this week and waiting to hear the results in a few weeks.

I turned the corner last night and spotted this on our bed

Tom and I will be heading up to Vermont later today, a trip we've been planning and looking forward to all summer. The only bad part about this trip is leaving Wilson behind. You better believe I looked into bringing him on the plane. I just can't imagine traveling with this kitty, who has insane lungs. I'm pretty sure everyone on the plane would want to throw us out with all the meowing he'd do.

He tried his hardest to convince us that he should come last night. He even demonstrated how well he fits in Tom's suitcase.

Next time you hear from me, I'll be back in the 802. But before that, I have to go running. The heat and humidity have returned to DC making mid-day running seem like torture! It's already 86 degrees and I have to get in 6 miles. It shall be disgusting.

S'mores and Staying Busy

*How about a little random for your Thursday.....*

To start off, it's my dad's birthday today!! I can't believe how fast the year has gone. Wishing I could be up in VT to celebrate with him. It's so weird to be down here and not there with him today.

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I had my first run yesterday without pain. No hamstring pain. No foot pain.

And there was no pain again this morning. I don't want to get too excited about it since the pain has come back each time this has happened over the last few months, but I'll take it.

If you've wondered why there has been little talk of running on the blog over the last few months then see above. PAIN. There's nothing to say about 4-5 mile runs that are sometimes plagued with hamstring and foot pain. This paragraph alone summarizes my running over these months: run a few days, take a few days off, race, take a week off, blah blah blah.

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Keep reading - we're getting to these amazing things....

Am I the only one who loves naps? I seriously only need 15 minutes am I'm good. I used to rush home after XC practice my senior year at UVM, shower, nap for 15 minutes, eat, then go to class. It kept me awake for the rest of the day - no falling asleep in physics or whatever I was taking at the time.

Now I find myself taking a nap almost every day that I'm not in school and I don't want to keep that habit going all summer.

Finally, yesterday I discovered how to stay awake all day. Who am I kidding - I knew this all along. The secret is...

STAY BUSY!

For example, if one wanted to stay awake for an entire day, they could wake up at 6:30 and proceed to the following activities:

 eat breakfast, run, shower, write two blog posts, catch up with a childhood friend from VT, call your dad and talk for an hour, make beef stew (only Tom would request this in 90 degree weather), eat lunch, hang a mail-center thing your brother made you for Christmas (photo to come), walk to the bakery for bread and graham crackers, spontaneously make an amazing summer desert with those graham crackers (thank you Jacquelyn!), decide that you still have not spent enough time in the kitchen and proceed to make a batch of pizza dough, play with your amazing orange furry friend that likes to play fetch again, pay bills, clean the kitchen from your earlier mess, and wash two loads of laundry - but don't fold them because your orange furry friend decides he likes the full-laundry basket as his bed better than anything else and stays in there until you go to bed 5 hours later....

Reason #1 why clothes don't get folded: he will grab the shirt I'm folding, pull it toward him, and begin to  bite it

Reason #2 why clothes don't get folded: A bag full of warm clothes = most amazing bed ever, especially when placed under a ceiling fan

Yep, that takes you to about 5:30. Along with an hour or two to read the headlines or to get distracted by facebook/blogs.

My favorite part of the day was finally sitting down to have dinner, finishing said dinner, and then surprising Tom with the frozen s'mores from Marin Mama Cooks :)

You know you want to make them. Trust me, you really do. The crunch of the crackers, the chewiness of the frozen marshmallows, the cold chocolate - they make the perfect summertime treat even without a campfire. And she wasn't kidding when she said they're highly addicting. They really are. 

Snowquester Snow Day

A snow day was called for our school this morning. Although there was barely (and I mean nothing) any snow on the ground, I was excited to hear of the decision. The snow is expected to start accumulating, especially by the afternoon. So it really was a good decision on their part.

I think I have had more days off down here due to weather than in VT!

The snowflakes that are falling now are huge. Wilson has tried to catch a few from inside, but didn't have any luck.

Since I don't have to shovel that means I can truly relax today. I celebrated by opening a hot-chocolate gift set that I received from a student at Christmas time and enjoyed a cup of chocolate for breakfast.

Happy Third Birthday Wilson!

Wilson turns 3 today!!

There's been quite a lot of orange in my life this year. I'm embarrassed to say that I have taken over 600 photos of this little dude in 2012 alone. That's just too many.

This year Wilson.....

Became a city-kitty

Experienced his second hurricane

Took his first steps onto grass

Survived a 13 hour car ride in 93 degree weather

Got lots of treats from Tom and I

Became friends with a squirrel and a woodchuck

Took lots of naps in the sun

Discovered the joy of sleeping in fresh-from-the-dryer laundry

Tested out every new rug for us

Thought he was helping to make our bed by getting under the sheets each time

Studied up on some Earth Science and Biology

Helped in the kitchen

Assisted in present-wrapping

Dressed up like Santa

Mastered the art of stealing milk from a milk glass

Managed to pull out 27 socks from the sock drawer and scatter them all over the house - multiple times 

Looked cute every single day and got spoiled for it

We're celebrating his birthday with a few new cat toys (with catnip of course) and two new cans of cat food - to shake things up a bit. 

Waiting for Sandy

Wilson can't quite figure out what is going on, but he loves watching the leaves fly around.

We're just waiting for Sandy to come and enjoying electricity while we have it. 

The Box King

I think that the only thing Wilson enjoyed during the moving process was the amount of boxes available for him.

Now that I'm home all day with him and see that he no longer has a squirrel-friend to watch outside his window, I try to have a little more fun with him. The easiest way? Boxes. 

Wilson has become the Box King. 

Box Tents. Box beds. Box spy-holes. Give him a box and you will make his day.

A Need to Refuel

Yesterday was a hot one, reaching almost 100 degrees. In the morning I did a 3 x 1600m workout at 10k pace (as well as a warm-up and cool-down), and by the time I got home it was 91 degrees. Even Wilson wanted an escape from the heat!

Days like these bring on the leg sweat. It doesn't happen during the run. It always happens when as soon as I get inside. It's quite annoying, because even if my body is begging for me to sit down and relax, I can't. A seat on the floor would result in a puddle being left or me sticking to the floor, and a seat on the couch would only make me hotter, therefore prolonging the situation.

I couldn't help but get a little jealous of my 19 year old self yesterday. Six years ago I was training for cross country season. Each time I finished a run I would head to the freezer and pull out chocolate ice cream. I am quite confident that I had a chocolate milkshake after at least 60% of the workouts that summer. Talk about delicious refueling!

Unfortunately, I can't do that anymore. After yesterday's workout, I so badly wanted one. But there were two problems: 1) I can't really eat ice cream and 2) I think the ice cream would have melted before I could get it safely from the store into our apartment.

Instead, I made a piece of toast with peanut butter and chose a healthy option of fruit salad.

My 19 year old self would have been so disappointed.

Anyway, let's talk about refueling a little more.

I didn't know much about refueling after runs while I was in high school. It wasn't until UVM that I began to learn more. The biggest thing I took away was that you need to get something in you within 30 minutes of ending your workout. And that's pushing it. The sooner, the better.


Monday night I failed to refuel properly, and I paid for it yesterday with a slow warm up and very heavy legs.

Monday night: I ran in the evening for once and did a strength training workout. Instead of getting food in me, I took a shower, knowing that 1) it was almost dinner time and that I would be cooking up something soon and 2) Tom would be home very shortly and I didn't want to greet him with disgustingness.

We ended up going dinner and choose Noodles & Company (I was super excited!). Food was pushed back a little further, meaning I did not make the 30 minute time frame. I ordered the Japanese Pan Noodles, which I LOVED. However! This is where my post-workout refueling was also weak. I opted for no meat.

BAD IDEA!

Your body needs protein after a run. In fact, you usually need a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein (hence the reason why chocolate milk is always encouraged for athletes). It is so important for athletes to get in carbs. Our body breaks the carbs down into sugar to use during exercise. Muscles deplete their energy stores during a workout and can't wait to replenish them. In order to be ready for your next workout, it's crucial that you get food in you right away. Especially if you're doubling up on workouts each day.


And don't think that sports drinks like Gatorade will always do the trick.

I trained for my first marathon while studying abroad in Spain. I went to the store one day after a 20 miler to get Gatorade (yes they had it!) and was so disappointed when I turned over the bottle and saw that there were only 60 calories per serving and NO protein! Better yet, now they're coming out with low-sugar options? You can bet that the next time I had a long run I had a stash of chocolate milk waiting for me in my room. And I'll add another random fact in here - milk in Spain is NOT refrigerated, meaning I could pack chocolate milk in my suitcase and bring it with me to my marathon!

What it comes down to is you need to fuel before AND after you workout in order to feel your best and to make sure your body is prepared to work again. You do not need to eat an entire meal after a workout, but you need to give your body something to work off of.

Therefore, I am adding yet another goal to this week's training: make sure I properly refuel after runs! Thankfully, chocolate soy milk exists, so I will still be able to enjoy that chocolate deliciousness on these hot summer days.

What are your favorite post-run/workout fuel choices? Do you make it in the 30 minute time-frame? 

Running Motivation and Some Randomness

First off, I must clarify what I meant by a sentence in my last post regarding the runs I had last week. Tom texted me this morning saying that that sentence was his favorite. Just for your information, I was specifically referring to the mileage that I was running with my sneakers, not any other sort of runs. Hence the photo of my workouts for last week.

Moving on....

It was suuuuper hot today. The day started with this little guy waking me up around 4:30. I managed to half-sleep until 6:00 even though he was walking all over me and couldn't stop purring. And what do you know, as soon as my alarm rang his purr-box shut off and he was a peaceful kitty once more. Thanks Wilson....

I went back home (as in my hometown) for most of the day to get the oil changed in the car and to most importantly, hang out with my dad before the big move. We planted some plants in his veggie garden, ate pastries and ice cream (I am totally my parent's daughter) and washed all of our vehicles!

I then came home (this time I mean apartment) to....

RUN with Rachel!!

And yes, it was still about 88 degrees. But we had a plan: Park AT the CREEMEE stand so that when we finished we could eat ice cream!!

Talk about motivation for such a hot run! It made the time go by so fast and I barely noticed the sweat dripping off me because I knew what was ahead of us. I love the random things you think up when you're moving. They make your day so much more exciting! And it is probably a good idea that we hadn't thought of this sooner or else I would have had many more runs like this.

Knowing that I had already had a cupcake and some ice cream today, I decided to go with the black raspberry creemee - I mean, that must count for a serving of fruit, right?!


Finally, I must take one more moment to say that I always get a little depressed when this day of the year rolls around. Although I am extremely excited that this is the day in which we have the most daylight, it also means that it is the day in which each day following this day gets slightly less daylight. Which normally means that I immediately begin to fear October, the time when we set our clocks back and the daylight ends much sooner. Which then makes me fear the incredibly cold winters in Vermont, when there is practically no daylight (when I am not at work) and running seems impossible. However, this year I was not as depressed because I will not have to fear an incredibly cold Vermont winter since I am going to be heading down to a new place where I must now fear incredibly HOT summers! Yikes! That is all for today's randomness.

So Long Milk!

Sad news hit two weeks ago. I am about 92.7% sure that I'm lactose intolerant. Actually, the percentage doesn't really matter. All that matters is that I'm pretty sure that's the case.

UGH!

I've had digestion problems over the last year but always blamed it on the stress of grad school, my lack of eating a varied diet, or my coffee consumption that had not started until August. You would think that I would have gone to the doctors sooner, but no. That's not how I do things.

Finally, a few weeks ago I decided that I had had enough and needed to figure this out. My doctor suspected a wheat or dairy allergy - not what I wanted to hear. Seriously, I think half of my diet consists of carbs (breads, baked goods, pasta) and the other half is dairy (milk and cheese). She took blood work - to check my liver, thyroid, and to see if I was anemic, and I was given the assignment to go 4-5 days without dairy.

Not unexpected, my biggest craving during that "dairy-free" period was a slice of cheese pizza and ice cream. Not cool. But as the days went by my symptoms decreased a little more and I realized, that yes, I am most likely lactose-intolerant. As I mentioned in my VCM marathon recap, I was plagued with horrible cramps that bothered me until last weekend, when I gave up on dairy products completely. This week has been perfect!

I have always heard that adults loose the ability to digest the sugar, lactose, with age, but never wanted it to happen to me. However, I think I began to suspect it over the last few months, and I am finally glad to know what has been causing these problems. My doctor told me that when people finally find out what is causing their symptoms they are more than willing to give up on that thing. She was right.

It took a while to get used to no milk or cheese, but I think I'm doing alright now. I now love chocolate soy milk, and regular soy milk. I tried vanilla almond milk yesterday (WHOAAA!) but the vanilla was too powerful for me.

If anyone has experience of going milk-free I'd love to hear from you. For now I am extremely happy that I can continue to eat cake and pasta - cheese free of course!

I'll leave you with a photo of Wilson. Because I just don't think you care to see any photos of milk or cheese. He's much cuter that those things.

Window Perching - his favorite thing to do on a sunny day. He keeps an eye on the squirrels and guards against incoming bugs. 

Oh - my milk-free diet also means that Wilson is milk free. We can no longer bond by him sneaking his paw into my milk glass at 6:00am while I'm trying to eat breakfast. Poor thing :(

Birthday Weekend

I turned 25 this Sunday. Happy Quarter-Century to me! It was an awesome weekend. I really couldn't have asked for a better one. The weather was wonderful, and it's the warmest birthday I think I've ever had.

Here's the birthday in a nutshell...

Friday

• Tom came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me!  

 

• We drove up to Morrisville to see Tom's dad's band, In Kahootz, play. They were awesome and we enjoyed watching them play

Saturday

• Went for a 5-mile easy run
• Met up with some UVM interns for dinner at the Skinny Pancake. I really love savory crepes. I ordered the Deja Vu, which is sausage, cheddar cheese, and apples in a crepe, drizzled with Vermont Maple syrup. Yum.
• Headed to Bagito's for some coffee with the interns, and enjoyed some music from Montpelier's Jazz band.
• Met up with Tom and watched him eat two tacos from Mad Tacos. He didn't make it in time for dinner with the interns.
• Headed to the Savoy Theater (my first time there!) to see Albert Nobbs. What an interesting movie.....
• Headed home to discover some Lake Champlain Chocolates and peanut butter cups under my pillow!! How sweet! (heh - literally!)

Sunday

• Woke up and immediately (I mean, I just turned off my alarm) received a package of Birthday Cake Oreos and a card from Tom
•  Headed out for a 20 miler with my friend Rachel. We averaged 8:10 per mile and enjoyed a gorgeous morning. By the time we got back it was up in the 40s
• Found a giant banner in our living room after my post-run shower

• Took an hour nap by accident
• Walked around Montpelier. I'm pretty sure everyone was out there. It was well into the 50s by the afternoon and few were wearing jackets
• Met my dad, brother, and my dad's GF for dinner at Sarducci's. We were stuuuuffed when we left.

• Came home to enjoy some of my dad's strawberry shortcake, to open gifts, and to hear a lot of hilarious stories. My dad seems to always have a good one to tell!

Wilson showed off his awesome high-five skills

The best part about birthdays are spending them with those that you love. It's too bad they only come around once a year!

Questions for you!

1. Have you seen Albert Nobbs? If so, what did you think? If not, are you planning on it?
2. What did you do in the warm weather this weekend?