UltraQuarterMarathon Woman

I have a new mantra for running:

What would Dean do?

The Dean in question being the ultramarathon man, Dean Karnazes – and I am not exaggerating when I say I have become completely and utterly obsessed with him! I read his book, Ultramarathon Man, a couple of months ago, and at Christmas, I got given one of his other books:

(modeled by Ms Coco)

(Kovac snuffer photo-bombing)

(Kovac and Coco, together!)

Maaaaan, the guy is a m a c h i n e! 200mile races in one go…50 marathons on 50 consecutive days…running non-stop on a treadmill for 214 miles…running a 100+ ultra in the desert, then flying to Europe the next day for a marathon…he is just incredible.

I don’t plan on doing any ultras anytime soon (I value my toenails too much), but his books have done absolute wonders for my inspiration and motivation – he makes anything seem possible, and he inspires me to keep running and keep passionate, no matter what. There is a letter section in his 26.2 book, where a fan has written in saying that when they’re feeling crud running, they think ‘WWDD? – What would Dean do?’

I LOVE IT!

I read that quote last night before bed, and was raring to go for my run this morning. Of course, the weather this morning was: 50mph winds, heavy rain and very cold. The weather warnings were out and my mum even had to help me get the horses in, such were the treacherous conditions. Of course yesterday, it was sunny – and yesterday was my cross-training / swimming / indoors day…today however was my ‘progression run’ day: 15mins easy, 15mins steady, 10 mins threshold, cool down.

It was dark and I could hear the wind howling outside, but the first thought that entered my head was ‘what would Dean do?’ Why, he’d put on his trainers and attack that run like there was no tomorrow! So I did just that!

Mile 1: 9.05

Mile 2: 8.36

Mile 3: 7.59

Mile 4: 7.46

Mile 5: 7.20

Mile 6: 8.17

(aka: as a quarter marathon. Clever, right? Hmm.)

7.20!? 7.20!? Who is this girl!? I was freakin’ over the moon! My hip didn’t hurt and I felt strong and fresh, and every time I the wind tried to blow me off the road, I kept thinking ‘what would Dean do, what would Dean do, what would Dean do’, and it worked. a. charm.

Man, I love running.

I love speedwork when I’m running the most – last week, I had these splits:

8.54, 7.51, 7.37, 7.32, 7.37, 8.12

EEEE! I thought I’d lost my ability to run that fast and hold it, but I guess not! Runs like that are just showing me what I can do when I really do put some effort in – and it’s so exciting for the future. I have plans (at some point) to run a sub-1.40 half marathon, which would mean shaving 3mins off of my PB. I’m really starting to think and believe I can do it!

*Side note: Please understand, I am not trying to show off [& I know my splits aren't magical, although they are magical for me], I’m just mega excited and pumped! As my man Dean says, ‘you don’t have to go fast, you just have to go.’*

Oh there really isn’t a feeling of joy that matches the one you feel after an amazing run.

BRING ON BRIGHTON, APRIL 15TH.

Phew!

—-

I’ve been getting some inspiration from another book too:

I adore that book. I’m going to talk about this in another post anyway so I won’t go into any detail, but this book is one of the things thats inspiring me to be a much better vegan. It’s full of stories, extracts from literature, various tales and recipes, and I just adore reading it. The recipes are inspring me to actually COOK more too!

For example…

Cranberry quinoa! I googled cranberry quinoa recipes, and one from the Whole Foods website came up, which I loosely followed. It was pretty darn delicious

Another recipe….

From Vegan Brunch – a tofu omelette! Which turned out (IMHO) perfectly. I stuffed it with stir fried Brussels sprouts, garlic, mushrooms and a few other bits. I seriously had such a massive smile on my face after I made those two dishes, just because they’re different. I’m in a semi-permanent foodie rut most of the time, so it’s wonderful to mix it up a bit sometimes.

Above – hands down, the best socca(ish-type-thing) I have ever made! 25g gram flour, 15g soya flour, 10g millet flakes, bicarb, baking powder, raisins, curry powder, salt, 1/2 grated apple. P er f e ct.

Below – my dinner packed up ready to go for tomorrow (I’m driving to Middlesex for a Project 26.2 training day):

Roast veg.

Scrambled eggs tofu – cumin, coriander, tumeric, nooch…

Rice & lentils.

I am so excited to eat it! Sigh.

My excitement got the better of me today though – my wonderful blog friend Nathalie (hi Mrs!) sent me a box of delicious things, and these kale chips were one of them:

KALE CHIPS! I can’t buy these where I am, so i was super excited to try them. Holy heck, they’re good. Like, really really good. My original plan was to have just a couple a day, to make them last – but then they were too delicious…

Gah. I think I need to move to Wales (where they came from). Seriously, they are so worth it. They’re kale, covered in a noochy-cashew purple salty sauce, and then dehydrated. Crisped and delicious to perfection!

THANK YOU NATHALIE!

Anyway.

I have stretches to do, a bag to pack and 1/2 of Eclipse to watch :/ Have a good weekend!

This entry was posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.