Where did the past 2 weeks go?

Really? I am trying to do 1 post a week and I couldn't manage that last week. Two weeks ago was a blur since I worked a lot and late. Of course I can't complain too much since I ended up taking Thursday off to spend time with the kiddos. 

A tea party with the kids and Baabaa

This was the first week of soccer. Kevin is the coach and does really well with the kids. There are 5 kids on the team. Two girls and 3 (maybe) boys who are all 4. He is still working on getting them to understand that you can't use your hands. There are 2 more practices this week and the first game is next Saturday. They are certainly entertaining and fun to watch.

Mad shooting on goal

Another delicious box for the CSA this week. The Asian eggplant is long and skinny. We made eggplant parm again. I think we have eaten more eggplant in the last few weeks than in the last few years. With all the veggies and all the running, Kevin (and a little me) have really been craving carbs. 

Week 11

Basil

Bell Peppers (Sunset)

Cabbage

Corn

Eggplant (Asian)

Garlic

Onion

Saladette Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Green Beans

Not too much to say about my running this week. I got in it when I could find the time. My long run went really well!

Day 1 (M) - 7.04 miles in 59:29 - just a simple run around town
Day 2 (T) - Rest Day forced by too much craziness!
Day 3 (W) - 3.00 miles in 24:20 on CC track
Day 4 (T) - 5.73 miles in 52:31 - hill workout up the hill from CC to Highland
Day 5 (F) - Rest Day! Needed after a crazy week!
Day 6 (S) - EARC day at Canoe Creek - 4.08 miles around the lake on the trails in 41:26
Day 7 (S) - GREAT run on GTT from Twin Rocks up to near RT 219 and back. 15.0 miles in 2:12:07 with the mid 7 at race pace averaging 8:32 min/mile...which is faster than I was thinking, but I felt really good. Plus when the surroundings look like this, it's hard to not enjoy the run!

That put me at 34.85 miles run in a total time of 5:09:53.

Ghost Town Trail at Twin Rocks

The next week was also a blur with soccer and running again. The kids seemed to respond better at practice and were excited for their first game. Maddie's team did well and the game went better than expected. By the end of the game, they picked up on what they were supposed to do and the "goal" of the game.

Mad dribbling the ball up the field

Dad showing Maddie how to do a throw-in

Miles bugging out at the playground during Mad's practice

It was week 12 for our CSA.  Lots of tomatoes this week. Plus a variety of colors of sweet peppers. The red peppers are especially delicious. And more eggplant...this time I made Baba Ghanoush. We picked up fresh pitas from our favorite Greek restaurant to go with it. It was quite tasty and a nice change from eggplant parm. 

Week 12

Corn
Eggplant
Leeks
Peppers –Red & Sweet Banana
Red Cabbage
Saladette Tomatoes
Tomatoes
Broccoli

It was a busy week and my mileage was upped. I also got in my longest run ever - 16 miles. I am looking forward to a slightly dialed back week next week! 

Day 1 (M) - Rest day after a hard 15 miles the day before

Day 2 (T) - 3.48 miles in 29:34 - run home from Maddie's soccer practice from Revloc Park on the GTT

Day 3 (W) - 3 mile tempo run with warm-up and cooldown for a total of 5.51 miles in 45:50

Day 4 (R) - 3.57 miles in 30:50 - run home from soccer again

Day 5 (F) - 7.64 miles in 1:06:19 - missed this run on Monday, so put it in Friday. It was HOT out...

Day 6 (S) - 16.0 miles in 2:27:33 - the final 4-5 miles with Sarah...so much easier when running with people!

Day 7 (S) - A much needed rest day!

I ended up with a total of 36.2 miles last week in a time of 5:18:11. If you look at the 7 day period of Sunday to Saturday I ran a total of 51.20 miles! I don't have Kevin's mileage for the past 2 weeks. If I don't publish tonight...it won't happen! 

We also made the decision to purchase a treadmill to help with our training. It's the Sole F80 and hopefully we will decide this was a wise decision!! We also got a new toy to go with the treadmill, the new iPad! It's a lot of fun to play with and the kiddos are really enjoying all the games that they can play.

Fun with Photobooth!

This week is a little more free time there are no longer soccer practices since the games have started. We are hoping to get caught up on things around the house and look forward to a extended Labor Day weekend!

Have a wonderful week!

Out with the old and in with the new

The 2012 Summer Olympics come to an end today. The USA men in the marathon this morning were a little disappointing. Meb Keflezighi finished in 4th, but Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman both dropped out. I guess we all have our bad races, but it's a shame that they couldn't have finished even if they didn't have a chance to win. We really enjoyed watching most of the events (synchro swimming and rhythmic gymnastics were lost on both Kevin and I), but it will be good to free up some time and get to bed at more normal hours! We are definitely looking forward to Rio in 2016. 

As such an exciting 2+ weeks of sports comes to a close, we will be beginning a new chapter of sports in the Doyle house. Mad is starting U5 soccer! She will be coached by her dad and is really looking forward to it. The team starts practice this week with games starting on August 25th. This should be interesting! I should have some pictures to post next week.

It was week 10 for our CSA. The new item this week was cantaloupe and it was delicious! We are finding ourselves eating many more salads and vegetable side dishes this summer and it's delicious. It has been fun to try all the new and different items. 

Week 10

Cantaloupe
Corn
Eggplant
Green Peppers
Head Lettuce
Kohlrabi
Parsley
Saladette Tomatoes
Squash
Tomatoes

It is week 5 of marathon training. I had another 4 day week, but the mileage increased slightly. I'll add in an additional day of running next week, so the mileage will continue to increase. Kevin has also continued to increase his mileage and hit 62 miles in the 6 days he ran. Here's what my training looked like - 

Day 1 (M) - 7 miles negative pace in 3 mile, 3 mile, and 1 mile segments. I hit the splits I wanted on a nice hilly route. The first 3 miles were at 8:48/mile pace, the second 3 were at 8:24/mile pace, and the last mile was in 8:11/mile pace.

Day 2 (T) - Cross Training by doing a Nike Training App workout that consisted of lunges, squats, pushups, ab work, and other strength exercises. I was so sore for the next 2 days!

Day 3 (W) - Easy 6 miles in 52:12 minutes

Day 4 (R) - 3.2 miles in 28:00 minutes plus 8 strides

Day 5 (F) - Rest Day

Day 6 (S) - 14.02 miles in 2:08:50...the weather was so much better than the week before, nice and cool and fall-like.

Day 7 (S) - Rest Day

Did you remember to check out the Perseid Meteor shower over the weekend? We didn't last too long on Saturday night (the peak was between midnight and 6 am), but saw many meteors. Kevin even saw 2 this morning when he went out for his run. Have a wonderful week!

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius

We enjoyed watching all the Olympic coverage this week. I gave up on not knowing the outcome to many races/events prior to watching the prime time coverage. It didn't spoil watching the coverage though. One of the big races we were able to actually see live was the Men's 10,000 meters. If you happened to have missed that race, you really should check out the highlights here. Did you know that Galen Rupp is the first American Male to win a medal in the 10,000 since Billy Mills in 1964? Here is a clip from that race in 1964...love the enthusiasm of the announcers.

I ended up working overnight from Thursday to Friday and was home most of the day on Friday. I got to watch the prelims for the Women's 100 m dash. In the prelims, women who hadn't met the Olympic standards were allowed to race if they were the only woman to represent their country. Really they didn't have a chance to medal, but a few where the first woman to represent her country in the Olympics EVER. On Sunday we watched the Women's Marathon. It was great to see Desiree Devila start the race even with her injury, but she could only make it 2+ miles. Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher finished 10th and 11th on a day with the Olympic record was broken. The weather was all over the map for the race. It was fun to watch and we look forward to the Men's race.

The kiddos are really enjoying all the events of the Olympics. It's sweet when Mad asks if the runners are as fast as Mommy and Daddy. She is not afraid to tell you what she thinks about everything. The list of "Maddisms" is quickly growing. She is an awesome helper around the house. Miles is very into doing everything himself..."me do, me do" is a pretty frequent sentence out of his mouth. This includes picking out his clothes in the morning. The shirt is always a choo choo shirt if one is available. The shorts are usually what is available and there have been some interesting color combinations. Along with wanting to do everything himself he can be really stubborn and won't change for anything. 

It was week 9 for our CSA. Two new items this week were green beans and beets. The beans were just amazing raw. We roasted the beets and made beet, goat cheese, and pine nut sandwiches.

Week 9

Basil

Cabbage

Corn

Cucumbers

Green Peppers

Head Lettuce

Jalapeno Peppers

Squash

Tomatoes

Green Beans

Red Beets

As the title of this post would indicate, this was also a week about music. In this case, live music. On Friday night, JD Eicher and the goodnights played at PenEben Park in Ebensburg. The bassist in the band is one of Kevin's cousins (on the right below in all black). They play some covers, but most are original songs that are awesome. We really enjoy when they come to Eburg.

On Saturday night, we went to the (now annual) Clark's concert at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum. It's a nice night out without the kids with all our friends. Despite a period of a little rain, it was a great show and fun night out. 

It is now week 4 of marathon training. The mileage was pretty consistent with the past few weeks, but I only ran 4 days instead of 5. The mileage will continue to increase this week as well. Kevin ended up getting in 60 miles last week. He also ran one fewer day than the previous week. Here's what my training looked like - 

Day 1 (M) - Fun workout; I set up an obstacle course around the backyard that the kids and I completed. We ran threw tires (ones I drew on the driveway), ran around trees, did jumping jacks, did situps, went under saw horses and over stepping stools, and to the finish. It was quite a fun workout.

Day 2 (T) - 6 miles in 58:31

Day 3 (W) - 2 x 1.5 mile workout, with 1 mile warmup and cooldown; the 1.5 miles were in 11:17 and 11:00

Day 4 (R) - Rest day - I need to start working in some cross training, but didn't have time this day

Day 5 (F) - 3.35 easy miles in 29:40

Day 6 (S) - 13.02 Long run in 2:01:19; it was hot and humid. I ran with Sandy on the trail for some shade, but the heat definitely got to me. I needed to finish strong and my last 3 miles were faster, but it was very tough and I was a bit out of it for mile 12.

Day 7 (S) - Rest Day

Enjoy the last week of the Olympics!