Spring is here and we are getting our garden ready.  We live in the foothills so we have to be careful planting too early. Next week I will put in peas and greens. We will start with that. Then May 1st, corn, pumpkins, squash and cukes will go in. I had a great crop last year.  That soil is our own compost. Majority is from organic scraps. This soil is so soft and rich. Happy place to be if you are a seed!

I'm patiently waiting for my case of tomatoes to ripen.  I'm going to make stuffed tomatoes. I usually stuff two cases but have only one.  When they are done I put them in a big container and we have dinner for the next few nights. I have an idea what will go into them. Something new I want to try. Last year I did mango, clinatro, pineapple, lime, and avocado. It was delish! We have no mangoes so will have to come up with something different.

Three weeks until my 50 miler. Looking forward to my first race of the year. I feel great, no injuries. Only a tweeked ankle. Nothing big though.  I tweeked it many months ago. Ankles are such a pain. Once you tweek them, they are sensitive and so easy to re-tweek. I think I have re-tweeked my ankle 3x last month. It does heal over night and I am good to go the next day. I have to be so careful on the trail. It is so rocky where I live.

On my run today, I was thinking how much I have been enjoying running the last 3 years, more so than the other 20 years I have been running. Biggest reason is never taking my running watch with me. I used to be so into what pace I was running etc and if I could beat my old time on a running loop. I don't know, but it just got old. Didn't make if fun. I know so many runners who are so into their running data, time, pace, miles, vertical.  I could care less about time and pace. I just go out and run the trails. I do though keep track of my miles. Only the last two years and really out of curiosity on how many miles I get in a year. Most of the trails I run, I know the distance it is from point A to B so I do not bring a GPS with me. So yeah, it is very freeing not being tied to a watch and just enjoying every moment on the trail.

Today's menu and miles
breakfast - oatmeal, raisin, and maple syrup also some almond yogurt
run - 11 miles 2400' vertical
lunch - quinoa, veggie bruger, broccoli, kale, tomatoes
dinner - gigantic fresh juice of carrots, granny smith apples and fuji apples

Yes, still doing my 100 squats a day.

Check out my new shirt!!! This is what I will be racing in this season. I figure I might as well spread  the word about how a plant based rocks! And if you haven't seen the movie go see it. Give it as a gift for friends and family. I know it has changed so many lives.
The warm weather is upon us this weekend. This just after a last blast of snow last week. So happy to see sun. Makes me want to run even more miles. And eat summer fruit!

Had a great run yesterday with my friend. She knows all the trails on this one mountain that I haven't been to.  Lots of fun rolling hills and some great climbs. We did about 12 miles then I went home and ran another 13.

training and food log;
breakfast - big huge bowl of oatmeal with the fixin's
run - 25 miles 5000'vertical, fueled with lara bars and dried fruit
lunch - burritos (non-gmo corn tortillas, tomatos, salsa, beans, with red potatos)
dinner - apples and granola cereal

I just signed up for another 50 miler in May. This  race I will have to travel to. But it will be worth it. The wild flowers will be in full bloom there. Haven't raced in this area before so a new adventure. And will be going with friends. Gonna be fun.

We got the best deal on organic navel oranges, $22 a box of 72.  I bought two cases. These were the best ever! I typically don't eat oranges, I juice them. In order for me to eat them they need to be super sweet and juicy, I'm picky about that.  So these were great! Just like candy, unreal. And we got a box of fujis that were sooo sweet too.

And the romas were not too bad either.  Had to wait for them to come ripe, took about a week. So I also ordered a case of grape tomatoes to eat first then when they are gone, the romas will be ready.

Simple, easy salad. One head of red leaf, tomatoes and squirt a fresh orange on it. My favorite. I do not like complicated salad dressing. I can't stand, oily, vinegary, garlic dressing. Yuck! I wake up with foul breath, ewww!

Went on a run with a friend I haven't seen in awhile. She's an awesome ultra runner. It was last minute thing and had I known I was running with her I would not have done a 17 miler with hills the day before along with my squats. I didn't have the freshest legs so I had to dig deep. We did three summits that were quad burners. The pic is of our last summit. Windy and chilly but an amazing view.

Today's menu
breakfast - huge stack of pancakes, with peanut butter and lots of maple syrup. (about two hours before my run).  This is just the best pre-run, stick to your ribs, breakie for a long, hill run.

run - 15 miles, 3700 vertical, brought dried fruit for fuel and a few potatoes

lunch - quinoa, steamed veggies, kale, tomatoes, veggie burger, garbanzo beans.  A huge bowl of food and I ate every bite.

dinner - 5 navel oranges

I am still doing my 100 squats every day. Some days are way harder, especially after running hills. I know they really helping me with my running. I ran 24 miles on Sunday and felt great! The squats are getting legs muscles that running doesn't not get very much, like the inner thighs.  After my long run, next three days I spent it on hill work. My legs are very tired right now. Today I will do hill work then rest for two days.  I also  do my best for back to back rest days. This I think is so important.  If I rest,eat and sleep well, my recover time is fast. And my muscles get some to mend and get stronger.

Yesterdays' menu and workout

breakfast - big bowl of steel cut oatmeal with banana, blueberry, handful of granola and maple syrup
run - 8 miles of hillwork
lunch - steamed kale topped with tomatoes, broccoli and garbazno beans with a side of red potatoes
dinner - huge green drink (kale, apple and oranges) and more potatoes

I have a new discovery for my taste buds! It is the Eli Earth Bars.  These are  heavenly candy bars! They are vegan, GF, soy free and non-gmo. And it tastes like a snickers. I mean it doesn't get better than that! I don't partake in these on a daily basis. For one they are a little spendy but for me they make for a great snack on the trail.  These will for sure be in my race bag for my ultra races. I am not one to devour chocolaty sweets of cakes and cookies (even if they are vegan).  I mean I could. But I just don't.  Actually my weakness is watermelon and cantaloupe. I would take the melons over anything anyday.

So I am on a major pankcake eating frenzy lately. I love my recipe that I make.  4-6 for breakfast and I am good to go for a 2-3 hr trail run. Digests super easy.

I am still doing my 100 squats a day.  I am on day 20.  Still going strong. I do them right before bed along with 4 other core exercises.  I tried to do them right after my run but I am usually cold and/or wet from my run.  Right before bed is perfect.

And my run mileage for this week was 52 miles and 10,000' vertical. I have been really consistant in the last 3 months. Which is always a good thing.

So I am on day 9 doing 100 squats a day and 50 pushups. I also do other weights and core exercises but the squats and pushups are everyday.

As the weeks go on I will start seeing more benefits of 100 squats a day. But one improvement I have seen already blows me away.

My right knee has a condition common in athletes. I believed it accumlated over time snow skiing for so many years and having bad form as a snow skier. My knee cap doesn't track straight when I go from the squating position to the standing. It grinds  My knee has gotten SO much better over the years from keeping my quad muscles strong. It has never prevented me from doing anything but I tend to baby it more. I have to be careful when I do leg day at the gym. 

For the first week of  doing 100 squats, I could hear my knee grind.  And by the third day there was a little bit of pain. I am doing the full squats, going all the way down, doing them completely right. So today while doing the squats I couldn't hear my knee grind. I'm like what the heck?!?! Then I went up my stairs (because it always grinds going up), and no grinding either. I'm so stoked! Could it be that I baby-ed my knee for too long. I mean I used to get serious pain there and don't want to go back to that. But maybe 100 squats a day is what it needs.

Yesterday's menu and exercise

-breakfast - none (went to a party the night before, ate a ton of vegan food, was not hungry when I woke up)
run-20 miles 2400 vertical plus my core workout, fuel dried fruits
lunch- taco salad, lots of it and potatoes
dinner - pancakes

I just bought some oat flour for the pancakes, I really like it!

Day 1 of 100 squats a day
Some of my friends are doing a challenge of 100 squats a day for the whole year. And I have decided what the heck, I'm in. Who doesn't want buns of steel? They started Jan 1st, and I started today. Right after my 20 mile run. Oh boy.
I did my squats tonight and as much hills as I run, I will be feeling the squats. No pain no gain! On top of the 100 squats a day I want to do 100 push ups a day. A few years ago I was up to doing 100 push ups but not everyday though and definately not all at once. I would have to take breaks.  But I just did 50 and half were girl push ups.  Haven't done push-ups in awhile. So we will see how long it takes me to get back up to doing 100 non-girl push-ups.

Today's menu
breakfast - pancakes with maple syrup
run 20 miles, dried fruits for fuel
lunch - quinoa, broccoli, veggie burger, apples
dinner - sweet potato, garbanzo beans
snack - bowl of granola cereal with hemo milk

It is the end of the month, low on funds and food. Just been eating what is left.  I am almost out of fruit. I gotta have my fruit. I love eating  fruit meals. I don't like paying high grocery store prices so I wait until we make a run for the wholesaler.  So looking forward to some oranges or anything fruit.