Happy Earth Day!

Whether you're afraid of the oceans rising in the next century, think climate change is a hoax, or just want clean air for your kids, I think that it's hard to deny that humans must use resources wisely in a time of population growth and increasing quality of life. For me, Earth Day is about realizing the need for humans to work in synergy with our home.  Resources are not unlimited and there is clear evidence of man-made pollution and adverse health effects in urban areas. Our current way of life, especially in the United States, is not sustainable.

Sustainability is my theme for 2014, and I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm eating mostly plant-based, taking public transportation when I can, and trying to make the case for nuclear energy's role in sustainable development. Read my post today on #Atoms4Earth. You can design your life to take only what you need instead of abusing resources. Earth Day is about celebrating our life on Earth and educating ourselves on how to preserve our only home.

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

Race Recap: CARA Lakefront 10 Miler

First of all, congrats to everyone who ran the Boston Marathon this morning! I'll be logging a run on the Nike+ app later today to support Nike's campaign for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Week 8 of Indy Mini Marathon training was light and ended with the CARA Lakefront 10 Miler on Saturday. It was a chilly but beautiful spring morning. Ryan and I drove to Montrose Harbor and got to the starting line by 7:30 am. I love that about smaller races is that you don't have to get to the race an hour or more earlier to get into the corrals. There were about 1300 runners and the course took us north a bit, over Cricket Hill, and then south along the lakeshore. I was cold at the start but warmed up within the first mile. And I'm glad that I didn't wear more layers because the sun was warming up towards the end of the race.

Ryan got this action photo of me (he didn't run). I took it easy for training last week because my ankles and calves have been in pain, and they did hurt during the 10-miler. I powered through the pain and kept my pace under 8:30, which was my goal, and my projected race pace for the half marathon in a couple of weeks. So I finished in 1:24:17 at 8:26 pace! This was a great time for me and a PR by over 10 minutes from my last 10-miler, the Cherry Blossom in DC in April 2011. 

The race was well organized and I really enjoyed it, besides the pain in my legs. The post-race party featured some interesting food samples, like macaroni and cheese and beef on a stick, I gave those to Ryan haha. I ran in to some CREW and RNCF friends and then we headed home, but not before stopping at the Over Easy Cafe for a delicious brunch!

Any tips for easing ankle/achilles/calf pain?

Did you run for Boston today?

Friday Favorites

Favorite Inspiration
I'm constantly challenging myself
to get out of my comfort zone

Favorite Kitty
Whiskey lounging on her tree :)

Favorite Lunch
Salad with amazing Avocado Cucumber Dressing from
Brendan Brazier's new Thrive Energy Cookbook

Favorite Workout
Run to Road Runner Sports to pick up my
CARA Lakefront 10-miler packet, race is tomorrow!

What are your favorites this week?

Quinoa Kale Salad

It's spring (although it snowed in Chicago this week) so I'm back to eating salads for lunch instead of comforting and warm soups. I have lots of quinoa salad recipes but I haven't make one with kale yet, so here it is! The key to making kale edible is to massage it with oil. This helps break down the vegetable and easier to eat. This salad has quite a few ingredients but it's easy to make. The amounts are approximate so feel free to adjust to taste and skip an ingredients or two if you don't have it.

Ingredients (3-4 servings)
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
4-6 stalks kale
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 red pepper
1 carton cherry tomatoes
2 green onions
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 cup chickpeas
1/2 cup kalamata olives
2 Tbsp. dulse flakes
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
These ingredients are approximate so use to your own taste. First, start cooking the quinoa by combining with the water in a pan. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer until the water is absorbed. Add more water if quinoa is not cooked thoroughly. While the quinoa is cooking, shred kale into bite-size pieces (without the stem) in a large bowl. Add olive oil and thoroughly massage into kale until it turns a dark green color. Chop the red pepper and onions and add to bowl. Halve the tomatoes and olives and add to bowl. Add the pine nuts, dulse flakes, chickpeas, vinegar, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly. Once the quinoa has cooked and cooled, add to bowl and mix again. It's good to let the salad set for a while for the tastes to combine and absorb, the vegetables won't get soggy so the leftovers are great too! Serve cold.

Week 7 of Indy 500 Mini Marathon Training

Here's week 7 training for the Indy 500 Mini Marathon on May 3. This plan is an intermediate program with the hopes of getting a PR and finally beating my 1:55 half marathon time. I made this plan with the help of The Crew and Kate of The Four Percent.

Monday - short run
5.02 miles at 7:59 pace!
Today was just supposed to be an easy run to recover from the long run over the weekend but I ended up going out fast and staying that way. I'm actually pretty sure that this was my 5-mile PR, a week after the Shamrock Shuffle of course. I never run under 8:00. The reason might be is that Ryan said he would meet me after work at Chipotle at 6:30 pm and it was already 5:50 when I went out for the run. So I rushed to get my 5 miles in before dinner. So, maybe I should have Chipotle for dinner every night??

Tuesday  - HIIT at BAC

As I said last week, I'm trying to check out more of the classes at BAC because I'm just terrible at working out on my own at the gym. I thought HIIT would be a good one to try but we really didn't do HIIT. High-intensity short intervals are supposed to be something like 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest. And a real rest so that you can go all-out in the next set. But we did thinks like high knees for 30 seconds and running in place for 30 seconds, not really HIIT. There were some fun core movements where we passed medicine balls in a circle but I was not impressed with the class, overall.

Wednesday - Run

I met up with The Crew at Road Runner Sports for Girls Night Out. We did a 3 mile run (I ran there to tack on 2 more miles) and then there were some raffle prizes along with cupcakes and champagne. I also got to test out physical therapy from Delos Wellness. The therapist massaged out my tight ankle and it was both painful and good. 

Thursday - Spinning at BAC

Recovery before long run 

Friday - Long Run

12.1 miles at 8:47 pace

My legs were pretty tired during this run and I really didn't feel great. My calves and ankles hurt the most and it was a pain to finish. I did get the miles in though and greatly enjoyed the warmer weather we had in Chicago this weekend. It was beautiful on the lakefront (see above). I decided to take the rest of the weekend completely off to let my legs recover and the upcoming week will include only easy workouts. A recovery week in training can greatly help down the road. I also have the CARA Lakefront 10-miler this Saturday, so it will be good to rest up for it. Then, I'll go harder next week, and finally taper for a week.

Saturday + Sunday - Rest

What was your favorite/best workout last week?