eat.run.bake.blog

We have hit the home stretch of this 50k training plan. Today I was supposed to do either a ten mile race or a half marathon. There were no races at either of those distances within a 25 mile radius of me for today. I decided to head out for a ten mile run. Last week after I had yet another flare up of the IT Band issues my buddy suggested I don't run anymore then 10 miles at a time until Ragnar.  I dropped the kids off at my Mom's and then hit the road running. I was feeling good. I didn't even have a hint of pain in my knee until about mile 8 and even then it was very mild.  My run today was so peaceful. There was not many other people on the trail but I seen many types of wildlife. This turtle was huge I had to snap a picture of him for my son. I was feeling extremely grateful during my run. We are so close to race day and I am feeling strong. This training plan seemed so overwhelming at first but now it's such a routine that I'm probably going to miss it and may...

I have had several people recently express interest in doing a 5k. If you are thinking about making health and fitness a goal in your life running is a great place to start. Perhaps at this time you are just fit enough to walk this plan can be helpful to you as well. I have noticed that the key for me during any training schedule is to be consistent. There are always set rest days and set run days and I really enjoy the routine. I enjoy training so much so that as soon as one event is done I need to find another one to train for. I can quickly get caught up in trying to do exactly what the plan says but in all honesty I just need to be consistent. If you research running training plans most will suggest saving your longer workouts for the weekend when most people have more time. If your schedule is different you can simply change the plan to fit your needs. If you have a smart phone it will be really helpful if you download an app to track your distance. I would recommend Runkeeper, ...

With less than 1 month until the Ragnar Trail Appalachian in West Virginia my excitement is reaching new highs! I signed on to the Ragnar Relay website Thursday to see if our start time is posted and it was. Our team (Team #204) will be starting at 11:30 on 6/19. The Forbidden Drive Flyers had our first full team training run yesterday. Mike, Kelly and I have all been out together a few times but now we had Brian out there with us too. We set out for a 26 mile day that we were going to break into two 13 mile runs. The first run we decided to run on a flat course the second we would get in some hills. If you have been following my blog you may have seen that the Ragnar event we have been training for will be about 30 miles for each of us split into 3 runs over the course of the race. Yes I know what you are thinking well then why didn't you break your run into three runs for training? At the race we will have something like 4-6 hours between each run so we were planning to repli...

Today was the deadline for a project I have been working on. This project was very large and very fast paced pretty much like all the projects I work on. I feel so relieved that it is done so I needed to celebrate. I decided to order pizza so I didn't have to cook dinner. I ordered from Carmen's because they use only fine ingredients and have 100% whole wheat dough. The pizza was delicious. I wanted to do some baking tonight because what is a celebration without baked goods! I decided to get real crazy tonight and bake two things.  1) better than boxed -nutbutter brownies and 2) Whole Wheat Banana Bread. The two recipe I chose are both made without the use of refined sugars or refined flours well one of the two is actually gluten free. I can pretty much guarantee that no one would guess that during a taste test. The banana bread is so full of flavor and naturally sweet it's perfect for a sweet treat or even a quick breakfast. For the banana bread I used two bla...

So today was the First Run of the Coventry Woods Trail Run Series in Pottstown, PA. My husband and I signed up for this series a month or so back and immediately I was very excited that Jimmy decided to run a few races with me. Last year a few of us did the Color Run at night and we were the only 3 people really running and my husband was pretty bummed that it wasn't a timed event. I knew at that point I could get him to sign up for another race but I was thinking it too would have to be a 5k. Many people who do not run often will willingly sign up for a 5k with you but I'm pertain certain it's a rare bread of people that will sign up for a 3 race 10k series with you!! Thanks my Love. Coventry Woods is about an hour from our home which is one reason I did not want to run it alone. I have no problem running races by myself but I'd much prefer them to be a on a course I'm familiar with or know atleast one other person running in the event. Since a very early age I fel...

I finally got to try out my Nathan Zeal Hydration Pack . To start off I will mention how nice it is on the eyes. The colors are beautiful and the fit is flattering for a female runner. I was setting out for a 20 mile run so I decided to only fill it half way. I did not think I needed a full 2 liters of water plus I knew Id be near water sources if I ended up needing to refill. I was glad that I did not fill it all the way for my first time using it because it would have been much heavier. I also opted out of running with the additional 20 ounce bottle it came with and instead used that pocket for my cell phone. This vest does not have any front pockets that are large enough to hold an iPhone 6 other than the water bottle pocket. As of right now this is my only con because a waterproof phone pocket up in front would have been amazing. I used the other front pocket to hold two clementines. The zipper phone pocket held some tissues and a chap stick. I honestly dont know what size phone...

Yesterday was a great day for running the weather was perfect. In fact everything was perfect except for my IT Band in my left leg around mile 5. It wasn't too that I needed to stop running but at mile 6 we stopped for a few minutes and stretched it out and it felt better to keep running but the pain was lurking and playing with my mind. We started out on our 20 mile journey yesterday with flats. When we got to the hills I could still feel it but I adjusted my stride and kept on running. I don't remember when it was that I just could run anymore but at some point the pain became too great. We still got the miles in which makes me happy. Looking back on my Tomtom it looks like we got 13 miles running 7 walking! Im going to take a few days off from running and focus on some strength training so we will see how that goes.  Baby goslings by the river This may have been the hill that stopped me for the day haha. 

After Saturday's unsuccessful run I was taking it easy. When I woke up Sunday I knew my leg did not feel 100% so I decided to not run. I know what you are thinking. Wow Danielle actually listened to her body and played it safe. Kudos to me! I decided to do some yoga because I had to do something and then later on Leona and I went for a few long walks. Well maybe the walks were not very long in mileage but when traveling with a toddler walks are always long because sometimes they sit in the stroller and other times they like to push their own stroller. Yesterday was Monday and a rest day. It worked out perfectly because I have an insane deadline I'm trying to meet so I worked until lunch and then stayed in the office until about 7:20. I was feeling good today and decided to resume my normal schedule and run at lunch. I was so grateful that my meeting got done in just enough time for me to get changed and head out to run by the rive on the beautiful spring day.  I wish I had more...

So my baby sister is now 23. Happy Birthday Kiki! My sister and I were big fans of Philadelphia Foodie on Instagram but I had to un-follow them when I started my Real Foods Challenge because their photos made me want to eat everything. Kiki found a cake on there forever ago and said she wanted it for her Birthday. I was going to purchase it for her but then looked at the price of the cake plus shipping and handling and thought hmmm maybe I can make this. Momofuku Milk Bar has been kind enough to post many of their amazing recipes on their website. There are also many copy cat sites online and I once I found a recipe for their Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies . The Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies were actually the last thing I baked in 2014. When I knew I was started the real food challenge I wanted to go out with a bang and the cookies were absolutely amazing. Now mind you I have never tried anything from Momofuku's yet but I plan to in the not to distant f...

I set out this morning to bang out what I thought would be an easy 16 mile run. I got to mile 5 and had to stop to use the restroom. When I started to run again I noticed my left IT band felt right. I noticed similar pain after last week 17 mile hill run. Today the pain was not really bad enough to stop until I just passed the 10 mile mark and I tried to stretch out my legs by kicking my butt and felt and awful pain shit up my left side. I stopped at once and did some stretches. I tried to run again but the pain was too great to continue. I was devasted. I was set on running 16 miles today. The weather was great my daughter was with my mom and my son was with my son husband and all was well except this IT band. After I called my husband for a ride home I did some more stretching and it felt better but I still knew I shouldn't push it. This is not a concept that comes easy to me. I will probably beat myself up all day for not reaching my goal, when I should really be patting myself ...