Tips for the Long Haul

I made it! Back in Sydney after about 30 hours of travel. I've done a "long haul" flight 8 times in the past 7 months (I'm not sure what the airlines classify as long haul, but I'm guessing anything over about 10 hours?). From DC to the west coast to Sydney it's about 20 hours of flying all told, with the bulk (15ish hours) coming in the "haul" from the west coast to Oz.

I don't have enough miles yet to even qualify to LOOK at first class and can't imagine how many long hauls you'd need to take to be automatically bumped up, so I've had to come to terms with the long travel day, stale airplane air and gross airport food. No, it's not the best day of your life but it can be bearable.

Here are some of my tips for making the long haul more your friend:

1. Mentally prepare. I kind of tell myself that the flights are just like parking my butt on the couch for a Saturday and watching TV/dozing/eating crappy food all day long. It kind of works, especially because most airlines (cough, cough United and your in-aisle TVs) have individual TV sets that have hundreds of choices between movies, TV shows, podcasts etc. Since I'm not a huge movie buff it always means I get to hang out and watch some "new" releases and chick flicks. If you go into these trips anxious and thinking you'll hate sitting long enough to develop bed sores, you're going to fail at the long haul. Long live laziness!

2. Stay up late the night before you fly. Not insanely late, but late enough so your body is a bit cranky at you the next day. This will help you get to sleep when you finally get past the west coast.

3. The morning of your long day of flying drink a big ass cup of coffee. Again, you can't sleep before you're over the Pacific (I'm mean, I'm sure you could but that would be really really stupid) so might as well be charged up so you don't accidentally snooze early.

4. Chug water like it's your business the days before you fly as well as the day of and during. Seriously, act like a camel and pack it in-- I try to get one of those giant Smart Waters and will refill as often as I can. Ask the stewardesses to fill up your water bottle instead of those small cups. They usually will roll their eyes but will give in. The more you drink, the less crappy you'll feel after landing.

5. When you get to the west coast east something substantial. I don't care if you ate a Big Mac before you boarded in Atlanta, you don't want to be woken up by your stomach growling on the plane. And a full stomach makes me real sleepy, so it's kind of like a mini sleeping pill.

6. For goodness sake, STAND while you can. I don't get the people sitting down before boarding a 15 hour flight. I'm sorry- do you not realize you're going to be trapped for quite some time? Let those legs stretch out while you can, and if you're not embarrassed do some stretching at the gate.

7. Get a sleeping pill. Doesn't have to be prescription, just something that will do the trick. Sleeping pills affect everyone differently and it's taken me awhile to figure out what works for me-- I've come to the conclusion that if the box says take 1-2 pills, 1 is for sleeping in a bed and 2 has to be for uncomfortable situations like an airplane. Has to be (or maybe for a large overweight man). If you can figure out the appropriate dosage you will be looking at cutting off 8-9 hours of the flight time. That only leaves you time for 2 new releases!

8. When you get on the long haul, they'll serve "dinner" about 1 1/2 hours after take off. If you don't get to sleep before dinner you're looking at another hour or so of hearing the dishes clang and smelling whatever unappetizing tinfoil box they're putting in front of you. Get on the plane, get comfy, start a movie, and pop your sleeping pills.

The time passed pretty quickly this go round for me, mainly because I had Wi-Fi from the east to west coast and because I slept for 9-10 hours of the long haul. Easy peasy, right?


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My First Two Real Runs

I've been a "runner" for more than 10 years now-- I've run two marathons, a handful of half marathons and done countless runs on the treadmill, around the track and on various trails.

But I've never done a real workout, or adopted a training plan that isn't purely "run x miles." In keeping with one of my resolutions for 2013 to set a new PR, I decided to tackle my upcoming half marathon a little bit differently (I signed up for the Twilight Half in Brisbane).

I had two requirements when I was searching for a plan: I only want to run 3 days a week and I wanted to find a plan that incorporated more speedwork. I stumbled across this plan from Runner's World and really liked that not only did it fit both requirements but that it also spelled out how to tackle all of the workouts and with what speed for me. Had I had to figure out how fast to attempt my 4 x 400s yesterday they for SURE would have been a lot slower.

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To figure out your pace for the workouts, you simply look at the chart Runner's World has provided to know how fast you'll need to run each mile on race day. Using that, you then base the speed work and tempo runs around that number. Now, I haven't run three consecutive miles in quite awhile (I've been doing more interval type runs) so I used the chart as a guideline-- ideally I'd like to run the half in under 1:50, but I used the 1:53:38 mile pace as my guide yesterday and today. I figure I can always get faster as training progresses?

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Let me tell you......both runs were tough. I guess that's the idea, right? 

Yesterday's "real" run: Five minute warm up at 6.5 MPH, 4 x 400 at 8.1 MPH with 2 minutes walking at 4.0 between each interval, 5 minute cool down

Today's "real" run: Five minute warm up at 6.0 MPH, 3 miles at 7.1 MPH, 5 minute cool down at 6.0

The first 10 minutes of today's run were great.....the rest of it was a struggle. I just kept telling myself "you don't want to have to blog that you walked" and that seemed to work! 

I'm excited that this plan will give me enough time to cross train with Body Pump and yoga, and hopefully push me enough to get close to or break my previous PR.

What training plan do you use to train? How have you shaved time off your mile?

Happy 2013!

Happy 2013! I rang in the new year with a few close friends last night at one of my friend's chocolate shop in Alexandria.

It was a pretty perfect night- sparkly dresses, best friends from college, Cards Against Humanity (best game ever) and a last minute scramble to find the Times Square countdown online. Am I the only person who really likes watching all of the performers and commentary going on in Times Square? If I don't see an official countdown and the ball dropping it's hard for me to say Happy New Year.

I find the transition from one year to the next to be fairly non-significant. It is just another day, although it is nice to think that you've got a clean slate each January. 2012 was both a great and frustrating year, and who knows what 2013 will bring. Kind of fun to guess at where things will be this time next year?

Anywho, I do have a few goals for this year- a mix of silly and serious and a few that won't really make a difference if I don't accomplish them. It's the first time I've put my resolutions/goals out there for the world to see, so here's hoping that makes me stick to them better!

1. Save. A lot. I'd really really like to buy a place in the next two years, but saving for the down payment in DC for the type of place that I want (nice and not in a crummy part of town) has been a bit of a marathon attempt. I'm SO close to having enough saved to begin looking seriously when I get back from Australia, and I don't want to be disappointed next year and feeling like I have to save for another full year.

2. Make a budget and stick to it. This ties closely to number one. Sydney is an EXPENSIVE city, so if I don't budget I have a feeling I won't be able to save much at all. I'm actually pretty excited for the challenge of writing down all of my expenses and what I think I can comfortably live on each week and to see how closely I can stick to it. I'll be posting my budget when I finalize it and giving a weekly update-- knowing that the internet will be able to check up on me is going to be a powerful incentive to stick to it!

3. Take five trips. I know I want to go to New Zealand, Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, and somewhere in Asia while I'm living in Australia. The fifth trip can be anywhere else, but I think I'll really kick myself if I don't carve out time to experience everything living down under has to offer. I'd REALLY like to go on a trip into the Outback, but every time I propose this I just get a bunch of laughs???

4. Wear heels at least once a month. I hate heels. More specifically I hate how they make my knees feel the next morning. But I love how they make my legs look. Narcissistic? Yep. I figure I wore heels maybe 5-6 times in 2012 so once a month seems pretty reasonable.

5. Do a handstand. This has been on my "to-do" list for a few years. No clue why I want to do one, and no clue how you go about trying to learn how to do one, but I'm making 2013 the year I'll finally get it done.

6. Set a new PR. I don't care what distance, but I want to do more races this year and I want to do them faster. My "personal bests" are all from about 3-4 years ago when I was running a lot more so I'm thinking this may be my toughest goal for the year. My first race is at the end of March and is a half marathon-- based on what I did at the Brooklyn half in May in 2012, I'd have to run 9 minutes faster to get a PR. I have a problem of not pushing myself hard enough, so I'm excited to try a new running group in Sydney and to hopefully find some fast friends to help me push myself further.

7. Eat organic meat. Yes, it's more expensive, but as I read and watch more about the various meat industries and get more and more grossed out I know it's better for me to commit to not eating the gross stuff. Based on what I think my grocery budget's going to be, I think this means eating more of a vegetarian diet with the occasional "meat splurge." Am I going to refuse meat that's not organic? No. Do I think that I'll realistically be able to stick to this 100%? No, but I am going to bite the bullet as often as I can to only buy organic meat.

8. Say yes more. My friend Kelly and I were talking last night, and she brought this up- the idea of saying yes to friends, yes to families, yes to experiences over a set schedule or plan. I'm terrible at this-- if I've got something in my mind that I need to do or want to do and someone asks me to do something I'll usually say no in favor of my plan. So I want to say yes more, especially in a new city where saying yes can lead to making friends and making sure I don't regret missing out when I leave.

There you have it- my goals for making sure that 2013 is the best year yet.

What are yours?

Let them Eat Cupcakes!

Tomorrow is one of my best friend's baby shower. It's the first friend of mine to have a baby, which kind of explains why I've spent a few paychecks on the kid already. I just can't help it!

Baby Linden is having an animal themed baby shower tomorrow (as if she'll really know) and her chosen animal is a fox, so I decided to browse Pinterest for some ideas for sweets that fit the theme.

I found two images of owl and fox cupcakes, but neither of the links had recipes attached, so I decided to wing it and create my own. They turned out pretty well if I must say!

Owl Cupcakes

Cross eyed? Perhaps.

You will need:

1 box cake mix (I used yellow)

1 bag double stuff Oreos

1 can white icing

1 bag Reese's Pieces

Pink food coloring

Cupcake liners

To assemble:

1. Bake cupcakes as directed.

2. While cupcakes are baking, mix red food coloring into the white icing. Mix until desired "pinkness" is achieved.

3. Carefully twist your Oreos apart. If you do this correctly, you'll have approximately 30 Oreo halves with frosting and 30 without. You can discard the ones without frosting, eat them, save them for another recipe whatever. The frosting halves will have some Oreo remnants on them, so take a knife and carefully take off the top layer. Don't apply too much pressure to the sides of the Oreos or they will break!

4. Separate your Reese's Pieces. You'll need 2 brown ones for each set of eyes and 1 orange one for each nose. You can eat the yellows like I did or save them for another recipe.








5. To make the eyes, apply a tiny amount of icing to the back of the brown Reese's Pieces. Press firmly onto the Oreo half wherever you'd like the eye. My owls seem to be a bit cross eyed, but I think they're cute.

6. When cupcakes are completely cooled you can begin to ice them. Apply a fairly generous amount of your pink icing to each cupcake and while the icing is still fresh press two of your eyes into the cupcakes. I found that placing the eyes about half way down the cupcake seemed to work fairly well.

7. Place the orange Reese's Pieces directly beneath the set of eyes so that it's vertical to the cupcake. Don't want a flat nose!

Ta-da!

You could easily change the color of the owl itself-- I opted for pink as it's for a baby girl's shower, but they could easily be any color under the sun!

Almost too cute to eat

Fox Cupcakes

 You will need:          

1 box cake mix (I used chocolate)

1 packet Caramel Frosting Creations

1 can Duncan Hines Frosting Creations icing base

Chocolate covered raisins or coffee beans 

1 small tube black icing

Can of white icing

1. Prepare cupcakes as directed.

2. To make the fox coloring, mix in the frosting creations packet into the icing base. Both of these were new products to me, but it made getting the fox color right pretty easy-- if these aren't available at your super market I did see a few grey color options in the icing department.

I thought I'd need two packets to get the coloring dark enough, but only needed one.

Pretty sure you could use any white icing with the packet?

3. When the cupcakes are completely cooled, begin by icing the white portion of the fox face. To do this, simply draw two half moons on either side of the cupcake using the icing tube or a knife. The brown icing will cover any white, so if you wanted to cover the entire cupcake with white you could, but the half moons were easy to create and made the perfect lines for putting in the brown icing!

4. After your white half moons are complete, take a knife and carefully fill in the brown icing at the top of the cupcake and down the center of the fox face.

5. To create "ears" take the tip of your knife and swirl it in the icing jar. The ears are tricky and none of mine look THAT awesome, but essentially just plop a bit on the cupcake and mess with it until you're happy. **If you had a pastry bag I'm assuming this would be a lot easier and prettier.**

6. Push a chocolate covered raisin or coffee bean between your two white half moons to create the nose and carefully create the eyes using your black icing.

Ta-da!

I will definitely make the owls again-- and the foxes as well, if I get a cheap pastry bag to make the icing a lot easier. All in all, these took about 3 hours to make (including bake time) so not a significant investment of time for a fun addition to the shower tomorrow.

Hopefully little baby Linden and her Mamma get a kick out of these!

                                                            

Back at it

Christmas was great-- full post to come once I find my camera cord (side note: I think one day I'll find a pile of 20 camera cords that I've lost)-- but with all the good food I've been consuming it was time to get back to the gym today.

I'm trying to get faster (keep in mind that's a relative term for me) so I've been using interval workouts to try to get my stubby legs to turn over a bit quicker.

This is what I threw together for this morning-- half mile intervals with rest inbetween. I'd wanted to do two more intervals at 7.7 and 7.9 but didn't wake up early enough and was out of time!

Next time I will definitely increase the interval speed or do additional intervals. I hate feeling like I have gas left in the tank after a workout and today was one of those days!

Now, off to find a leftover Christmas cookie....

War of the Leashes

If you couldn't tell by now, my parents have two pups that I absolutely adore. PJ is a slightly neurotic English setter and Hunter is our "walk up beagle" as my Dad would say- meaning he just sort of walked up to our house a few years ago and just kind of stuck around.

When I'm home, one of my favorite things to do is go on long walks with the puppies. It's usually something the girls do together so we can gossip and catch up, but lately Hunter has proven to be quite the pain when trying to go on a jaunt.

On Christmas day Hunter lasted about a mile before he sat in the middle of the road and refused to go any further. No amount of cajoling would get him to budge, so we ended up trading turns carrying him (22 solid pounds!) back home.

So this morning when I woke up wanting to take a walk I decided to not take Hunter. This would not do, and he cried and cried until I finally leashed him up as well, telling my sister I'd call her when he inevitably refused to continue.

Guess how far he made it? Two steps from home.

This is where things got pretty humorous-- as I was walking back toward the house to put Hunter back up, PJ decided to sit down. He didn't want to give up his walk!


What a mess!

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Baby it's Cold....Inside?

It may have been hovering around the 60 degree mark today in SC (you know, a few degrees more, probably not less), but there's something that's a given at Christmas in my household:


No shame in turning up the AC so that everyone can enjoy the crackling flames of a nice fire now is there? Part of my Dad died a little the day he accepted a gas grill as a gift, but I know he'd have a heart attack on the spot if someone suggested we move to gas logs.

There's just something about a fire that makes Christmas complete- it's perfect for a lazy afternoon of napping and watching "A Christmas Story" on repeat.

So what if I sweated a bit as I grabbed a few logs from outside to restock? Perfect weather for snuggling on the inside. And since I don't generally leave the house on Christmas, that's a-ok with me.


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