Peak Training

Fall is here and I love it. Fall brings crisp cool air, even here in Atlanta. Fall brings all of my favorite fruits and vegetables back in season. I am already drooling over brussel sprouts, persimmons and many others. This weekend was a perfect fall weekend for me. After a grueling week at work and lots of mileage as I begin to peak for WC100k, including having to work late on friday night I was looking forward to running, relaxing and enjoying the fall weather.

I got up super early on Saturday morning to head out to the Silver Comet Trail for a flat and fast 30 miler. I had gotten connected with a local speedster, Jason, through an ultrarunning acquaintance and it turned out he was going to do 10-12 miles at 6:30am, so I decided to meet him there at 6:30, so I could have company for the first 12 miles. While he said he wanted to take it easy as he was feeling tired, we clipped along at a good pace and what felt like no time, we were back at the start and I was grabbing my water bottle and heading back out for the remaining 18 miles. I decided to push the pace and dropped down to 6:30/mile. At about mile 16, I suddenly started having stomach pains and my entire insides started hurting. That morning, I had started my higher dosage of thyroid medicine, 3x higher than my previous dosage because the lower dosage was not having any affect after 8 weeks. I had been diagnosed with hypo-thyroid in August, after beginning to investigate why I was having muscle loss, slight weight gain, anxiety, fatigue, low max heart rate, dizziness, among several other symptoms. My normal doctor had struggled with this diagnosis because I don't fit the normal stereotype but in the end the numbers speak for themselves and it is great to feel like I am finally, at the very least, heading in the right direction. There is an interesting article about hypo-thyroid in runners here. Needlesstosay, after mile 16, the side effects started kicking in and I was not a happy camper. I kept pushing and manged to not only run 30 miles in 3:30, but along the way make a few new friends on the path.

After my run, I headed back to the house and went out to brunch with my dad at Perish. I then enjoyed a nap, ran some errands, including picking up a super cute new sweater, then I head out to Apres Diem with my friend George for dinner and drinks.

Today was another enjoyable day, I ran twice reaching 116.5 miles for the week, got a massage and more importantly made these:



I have been thinking about rice crispies treats for a few days, but traditional version didn't really appeal. I came up with the idea for this combination on my morning run today. It was a well deserved indulgence. I shared them with my friend/massage therapist Oni and my dad and Fran and they all raved. I dare you to try and eat just one. I guess it wouldn't be that hard to just eat one, if you didn't cut them into squares....It was a great weekend and it was a nice respite from the run/work jam packed but nothing else weekdays that I have been experiencing since being in Atlanta.

Koala Crispies Treats with Peanut Butter Morsels

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 pkg marshmallows, organic if you can find em....but good luck
1 box gluten free Koala Crispies Cereal or any organic Cocoa Crispies cereal
1/2 package Peanut Butter Morsels

Directions:
Melt the Earth Balance, add the marshmallows and melt them, stirring so it doesn't stick. I had it over medium heat. Most of you have made rice crispies treats at least one time in your life, so I have absolute faith you can make these successfully. Once the butter and marshmallows melt, add in the entire box of koala crispies and then after a few more minutes of letting it all cool, mix in the peanut butter morsels. They will will get partially melty, partially not. Put them in a greased pan and flatten. Let cool and then cut into squares....then attempt to not eat them all.

A few pictures of the delicious meal I mentioned in my last post....still no recipe, sorry :)!


And lastly, I just got an email from my friend Dan, whom I did the impromptu 50k with and he sent me this video!