I'm baaack!

Well hello blog! I know it's been 6 months since I've written anything here; a lot has been going on!

I went back through and read my last blog about how I went vegan. Well 6 months later I'm still vegan (yipee!) and I'm still loving it (woohoo!) and I feel like I've got a lot of my protein concerns covered (yay!).

But, as in normal fashion for me blogging: I have some big news! I've registered and starting training for my first full marathon--the LA Marathon! I'm really excited about this because my father-in-law and I have committed to running it together. He will be sixty six the day we run it--which by the way is March 15, 2015. How freaking cool is that? He is such an inspiration to me--when everything hurts or I feel like I don't want to go out or work out, he's sending me some article or sending me an e-crumb about how he going out for run. So, we are running 26.2 together and I couldn't be happier.


So, I finished up my first week of training. I'm using Runner's World Run Faster program for intermediate runners. My week in review:

Monday: Rest Day. I could really get into that! I didn't do anything except walk the dogs.
Tuesday: 2 Miles Goal Pace, 2 Miles Tempo, 2 Miles Goal Pace. I am training at a 9:30 per mile goal pace, even though that might be faster than what my father-in-law and I run at...so I ran 9:30 for the first two miles, 10:00 for 1/2 a mile, 9:30 for 1/2 a mile, 9:00 for 1/2 a mile and 8:30 for 1/2 a mile, then dropped back to 9:30 for the last two miles. My hubby ran with me and we both felt great after the run!
Wednesday: 3 Miles with 1x400 Sprints at the end. I had to do this on the treadmill as it was too hot outside to run. I ran the 3 miles at a little faster than goal pace and then did the sprints and then stretched. I felt good.
Thursday: (THANKSGIVING) 1 hour run with 4-5 minutes of total uphill time. I live in Redlands, CA. We have a lot of hills, so running 4-5 minutes up hill at a semi-vigorous/vigorous pace was not hard to do!  The hill was good, and I pushed myself but not too hard to tire too fast. I ran past a lot of runners trying to burn some calories before their feasts as well as ran right into the Turkey Trot race--I'm sure some people thought I was cheating when I peeled off the course! The run felt good and the weather was beautiful.
Friday: REST! Although I did some walking around as I went shopping later in the afternoon and played with the dogs.
Saturday: (supposed to run 4 miles). Ran 8 miles so I could do the long run with my husband. We chose a challenging course and it felt great and I feel good today (the day after!)
Sunday (supposed to run 8 miles). Using this as an extra day of rest. But I did walk about 3 miles total and took some opportunity to stretch out my back and legs a bit.
Total Mileage for Week 1: 23 miles. 

I feel good after my first week. The second week is almost an exact replica of week 1 with the exception of the long run...it's increased to 10 miles.

So all in all, I'm doing really good and feel great!

So until next time--

Here is a recipe to share (I just made this tonight and thought it's definitely worth sharing). I got this from This Vegan Girl and it was AWESOME! Don't get turned off by the pureed veggies. It was OUTSTANDING!


Vegan Mac and Cheez
Serves 4

1 Package of Pasta (I use Trader Joe's Brown Rice Penne)
3 small sweet potatoes (diced)
1 handful of baby carrots (diced)
1/2 an onion (diced)
1 cup of cashews (soaked overnight OR if you have a heavy duty food processor or mill blade)
1/4 cup + 1 TBS nutritional yeast
1/2 cup + 2 TBS coconut oil
2/3 cup milk (recipe calls for coconut--I used almond)
Salt, Pepper, Paprika (and sriracha if you like spicy)
Broccoli

Dice sweet potatoes, onion, and carrots and pay fry them in oil of your choice (I used EVOO).
Boil pasta a little more than al dente
Make cashew sauce by milling cashews into powder or blending them after soaking overnight. Add in coconut oil, milk, nutritional yeast, and spices. Blend into a cream. Add in the sauteed veggies and blend all together until creamy. Taste and add seasonings as you like.
Combine with noodles and add broccoli and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
*I have leftovers so I am going to add breadcrumbs to the top of this tomorrow* 

:) maggie