Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Slovakia Vacation Report

(the race report will be forthcoming when I find some nice picture to go with it)

The great thing about working in education is that we get 10 weeks of vacation a year. Having family in more than three countries and on two continents means we get to travel a fair bit. We spent our May break in Slovakia, visiting the hubby's grandparents and enjoying the sights, some biking, and tons of good food.

Here is our week if pictures...

We encountered these guys on our bike ride to Austria
We rode our bikes to a place called Caruntum

Where they rebuilt some ruins into the ancient roman places they were

Even the trees looked imposing
The views in Austria were beautiful

We even saw some Austrian trains
Post-day-long ride poppy-seed strudel = Delicious

Some tea to go along

Lunch at Elesko

Consisted of Bryndzove Halusky: a dish composed of potato gnocchi, sheep cheese, cream, butter and bacon...
My new Slovak ride :-)
We spent a few days in this cottage

New ride - take 2

Slovak Drink: Red Grape Juice

Bratislava Main Square

Chestnut & Ice Cream & Meringue
Meringue & Red Currant Bavarois
Grandma's Flowers
Another Chestnut Dessert
Coffee European Style
Armenian Honey Cake     

Sunday, May 15, 2011

New Half PR!!!!

Last week was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster (bad stuff happening to good people, not us), so the Leiden Half Marathon was a welcome distraction. I wasn't supposed to "race" it, but the weather was PERFECT (12C, cloudy, no rain, and some wind), and the course was absolutely FANTASTICally beautiful. So what can I say, I got inspired. The full race report is coming soon, but I am happy to announce my new PR of 1:56:51 (I know, it's less than 20 seconds...).
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Name Change

No... not my married name. Since I kinda gave up on Triathlon, I decided to rename my blog to the more appropriate: Running on Sugar, since that is literally what I do!!!

We just got back from a WONDERFUL vacation, more on that later!

Happy running!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Nicest Run!

My running has been getting better lately, not so much in quantity as in quality. My heart rate stays low(er) and my digestion stays where it should, making the runs much more enjoyable. So what is different? I think that most of February and March I was running in a very dehydrated state. I always run first thing in the morning, and by then, I haven't had much time to drink. For the past 3-4 weeks I have been drinking two big glasses of water straight out of bed, then eat my breakfast and drink my coffee, wait 1/2 hour and then go running.

Saturday was such a day. I drank my water and coffee, ate my breakfast, waited a bit, filled my nathan handheld, and packed a gel and went for a very pleasant 10 mile run from Breda to Galder and back. 10.3 miles in 1:41:40 (way to Galder was 51:20, way back was 50:20 with only two stops for red lights), an average of 9:51 per mile and 168 bpm. So all is good in my running world.

Happy training to y'all!