Week Three: Days Two and Three

I woke up the day after the 11 mile run with what I am now dubbing a 'runner's hangover'. I didn't drink the night before but I woke up dehydrated, nauseated and with a headache. I spent most of the day crawling between my bed and the fridge, eating something, drinking water and then passing out on my face again. Its very frustrating when you spend all day drinking water after the run to wake up like that regardless. I think that the day of the run I need to drink more electrolyte enhanced beverages in place of some of the water. I really can't manage another day like that if I am expected to train. Its not fair to my body.
I dragged myself out of bed at 3Pm because I had to teach a class later in the evening and I needed to make myself useful before I left the house. I felt nauseated up until about 8PM no matter how much I ate. I did an hour of yoga with my students and that was enough. Then dinner, concert rehearsals until 10:30 and bed again.

Today is day three of week three and it was scheduled to be a moderate tempo run totaling to seven miles. My running partner and I didn't feel like we could do seven miles so soon after the big run so we decided to switch day three with day four and make today a cross train day.
We were going to go cycling!! WooOooOoo!

I still had the issue of my stubborn toenail still hanging in there and causing problems to deal with. My friend gave me the idea of rubbing the cuticle with Oragel to numb it and then using band aids to cover it. The Oragel was a pretty clever idea as it did numb the area and it didn't feel as awkward having the nail pushed by the shoe.



The joys of running...
The nails are blue because I couldn't stand the sight of the discoloured nail initially. This was before it I damaged the nail bed. I can't say that having the nail painted blue makes it look any more bearable at this point. :P












Today's breakfast felt yummier than usual. Maybe because I was secretly grateful to get a break from running after the disaster of the day before.


Plain yogurt with whey protein tossed with strawberries, banana and dried cranberries.

Just water with breakfast today.










I wouldn't call myself an experienced cyclist in the least. In fact, today would be the second time that I have been on a bike (that wasn't stationary) in eleven years. My running and now cycling partners are all very good and they gave me a crash course on the gears. My friends have really been wonderful by the way. The bike I was using belongs to a friend of mine who is away and he was so enthusiastic about letting me borrow it for training. Its just so kind of him. His sister and partner are my training buddies and they've really made this whole experience so much more enjoyable and FULL of laughs. I feel very grateful.
Once I managed to mount the bike without letting it fall on me we headed out for a ride that turned into a 19 mile cycle. It was amazing though. It's so different to running. There is no impact, the breeze is fantastic, and you feel so free whizzing about on two wheels. At first I had a little trouble with the gears and I ended up making my bike chain come off. My friend showed me how to fix it and then we were off again. Thankfully it didn't happen again.
The roads here are terrible for biking though. My novice skills didn't really help and I managed to ram into what felt like a million potholes. I also didn't know the art of cycling through puddles. I didn't realize that you had to speed up when going through them and one section of the road was particularly dug up and the holes were full of muddy water. I tried to slowly teeter my way over the ridge between two holes but went too slow and my bike tipped. *Insert girlish squeak*
I stuck my leg out to support my bike and I ended up getting my shoes all wet and muddy. Yuck.
It was pretty funny though. My friends had a good laugh at least. :P
A few miles in I was wondering how long I could keep up with all of this pedaling. 19 miles seemed like a long way to be doing something that I wasn't used to but once we turned around after about ten miles my adrenaline was flowing and I pedaled my tail off. It felt amazing. It was kind of hot though as we started later and I now have another set of lame-o tan lines from my vest and cycling tights. I was as happy as a dog enjoying a car ride with the wind in its face. I almost lost my hat a few times. I haven't quite developed the one handed hold on the handle bar skill so I had to fix my hat with hasty slaps to the brim and quickly grabbing the bars right after. I must have been a sight. :P
We got back with rosy cheeks, splashed with mud, empty water bottles and big smiles on our faces. So glad that we made the call to switch the activities today.

Lunch was another slap together as I was starving.


Morningstar Farms vegan burger, avocado, tomato and onion drizzled in garlic mayo that I made from scratch.
Baked spicy sweet potato chips.
Carrot and cucumber sticks (I ate all the cucumber and some of the carrots before I took the shot)







My muscles were stunned by the new activity later in the day but I'm not as tired as if I did a tempo run. We'll get to that tomorrow.

Tonight's dinner was a specialty of mine.


Roasted sweet potato gnocchi with green beans, watercress nuts, red pepper, broccoli, onion, sugar snap peas and carrots in a tomato, garlic, oregano and basil sauce.
It also has soy cheese melted on top.

I drank the green tea before I ate :P








What a great cross train day. I feel refreshed and ready to run again tomorrow. A well needed break I'd say!