Christmas Gift Picks from Oiselle

In honor of "Cyber Monday," I wanted to give my picks for Christmas gifts from Oiselle for the runner women in your life (or for yourself!). I mean, we all know that the way to a runner's heart is through brushed nylon... Or something like that!

Rundies - Remember those "day of the week" undies you had when you were 8 years old? That's where the inspiration for Rundies came from. Instead of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. these undies say Rest, Track, Tempo, Fartlek, Race, Easy 6, and Long Run so you can match your underwear to your daily workout! Tip: they are made from cotton and are NOT pre-shrunk, so if you plan on putting them in the dryer, you might want to go up one size from what you normally wear. The only serious drawback to Rundies is the extreme crisis you face when you open your drawer and reach for the "Easy 6" pair and discover that it's missing because you've already done an Easy 6 this week!
Price: $65 for a set of 7

Baby, it's cold outside! Keep warm with the Burke Jacket and Onyx Tights! Both colors of the Burke feature reflective detailing, but the orange increases visibility in the light. I call it my "I'm not getting hit by a car today" jacket! It's also wind and water resistant, which will really help keep you warm on a gusty, snowy run. Bonus: it's really cute! Get it now for $97. Your stylish-ness, warmth, and safety are worth it!


The Onyx tights are my favorite for several reasons... They have a pocket in the back for my key. They have a flat waistband, which means no "muffin-top" or stomach discomfort on the run. And lastly, they're made of brushed nylon. If you  haven't heard of brushed nylon, you're seriously missing out. It's as soft as a newborn bunny (I would try wearing a newborn bunny on my legs to be sure my analogy is accurate, but they poop too much) and it's pretty darn warm. These tights are great for running, but they're so comfy that I wear them around the house all the time. I absolutely love them and you will too! Price: $70.

After you have a luxuriously comfy run in your Onyx Tights and avoid being hit by a car in your Burke Jacket, you're ready to relax. Pull on your Green Lake Hoodie and curl up with a nice mug of tea. I can't even tell you how many compliments this beauty has gotten me over the past couple months. With it's perfect fit and warm, fleecy goodness, I practically live in this hoodie. You will too. That's why I bought myself another one today. It's worth every penny of its $86 price tag, I promise.



You can find all my picks and lots of other awesome stuff (some of it made of brushed nylon) on the Oiselle website.

Also, from now until Christmas, Oiselle is giving free gift wrapping on all gifts. This includes gift messages in running-themed holiday cards from Banana Blossom Press. When you indicate during checkout that your purchase is a gift, you will be prompted to write a gift message which they will then handwrite in the card. Click here to see the cards! AND all orders will include single servings of Nuun electrolyte beverage. (As a GU athlete, I can't put an exclamation point after that, but you can read it in an excited tone if you so choose.)

The best part? Because you know me, and I'm a Oiselle* athlete, if you've never ordered from Oiselle before, you can use the code RUNTODAY to get 10% off your entire order. Just enter the code when prompted during checkout. If you were all in Flagstaff,  I could give you a nifty little card with the discount code on it. But, unfortunately, I can't hand out nifty little cards over the internet. So you're stuck with my blog instead. Forgive me? I thought so.

Enjoy the Oiselle love and be on the lookout for the my picks for Spring 2012 in a few months...


*I don't have terrible grammar. I went back and forth over whether A or AN was appropriate in this context. The reason for my confusion is that, while Oiselle starts with O (which would require AN), it's pronounced like it starts with a W (and would then need A). I don't know which is correct. And I'm not going to worry about it. But if anyone knows, tell me, so I don't have to be wrong.

Exciting New Partnership...

I am very excited to announce that I'm going to be working with another new sponsor over this coming year. A few weeks ago, I filled out an application with this company and last week I received word via email that I was being offered a product sponsorship with GU Energy Labs. I can't believe that I already have 2 sponsors only 6 months after graduation. One tiny step at a time, I'm making my dreams come true.. Even though it doesn't put any money in my pocket, it does help save me money on products that can help fuel my workouts and recovery. Nutrition is a key piece of training as an elite athlete, and my new relationship with GU will be an important part of helping me work up to that next level. So, in the coming weeks/months/whatever, you should probably expect me to write occasional reviews of the various GU Energy Labs products and particular flavors.

Andrew's Awesome Granola Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granola
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons liquid honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cup unbleached flour

Using a blender, chop granola to coarse crumbs. Set aside. In a bowl, combine rolled oats, butter, honey, and salt. Add boiling water and mix well with a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, pour lukewarm water and add yeast; set aside to ferment. When the granola has cooled down to lukewarm, add yeast mixture and mix together. Add 1 cup of flour at a time and mix. Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, until smooth. Put dough into an oiled bowl, making sure to coat all sides of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Place in a warm area and let double in size. Punch down and place dough into a greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise again, about 10-15 minutes. Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Phoenix 5k - 11/6/2011

One of the things Shayla and I talked about when we were first discussing my training was making sure I don't over-race like I did in college. With fewer races on my schedule, I can really focus on giving a good effort each time I step to a starting line, I give my body more of a chance to recover from the race effort, and I'm less likely to mentally burn out on racing if I spread my races out a bit. To that end, I'm currently racing about once per month, but I'm still in my base phase, so I'm mostly just building up my mileage base and not doing too many workouts or trying to peak for these races. Their main purpose is to serve as a benchmark for how my training is going.

After feeling so strong in the Twin Cities 10k, we decided it was time to take down my 5k PR and the Phoenix 5k (which offered prize money for hitting certain time standards) provided a perfect opportunity. They were offering $50 to any women who could break 18:30. I knew since I ran 18:12 for the second half of the 10k, that I wouldn't have any trouble with this and it also helped knowing that McMillan Elite's speedy Trina Painter would be in the race.

John's roommate and assistant coach were both also racing (Cody in the 10k, and Michael running the 5k AND the 10k), so we drove down to Tempe and stayed with John's parents the night before the race. After a few minor issues in the morning, we arrived to the course about 45 minutes before the start of the 5k. I think I was the only one that was panicking, but that was partly because the race director had granted me a complimentary elite entry and I didn't know where I was supposed to get my race number and all that. But, I got everything figured out and went about my business warming up. I pinned on my bib number, #10, did a few drills and strides, and then lined up next to Trina behind the elite men on the starting line. We tried to make a bit of casual conversation before the race started, but it mainly consisted of noting that we were wearing the same shoes. I guess runners can't be counted on for stimulation conversation in the final moments before a race.

The gun went off and I thought it was rather strange that they had us start a few meters behind the first timing mat, but that thought quickly passed as I focused on the race. I knew Trina was trying for something big, so I just settled into the pace that I wanted to run (while also being cautious because I'm just getting over inflammation of a tendon in my right ankle). I was very surprised to see another woman going out with Trina, but I figured she would come back to me. I went through the first mile in 5:29 and I felt awesome. I can't believe that less than 2 years ago, the fastest mile I'd ever run was 5:29, and now I can open a 5k with that pace! As predicted, the other woman faded back to me around that time and she sounded like she was struggling. I hit the halfway point in 8:30, perfectly on pace to run 17:00, just like I wanted and I still felt really comfortable. But, unfortunately, about a quarter of a mile later, my stomach started cramping up pretty badly. I don't know if I messed up something with my nutrition or if I was dehydrated or what the problem was, but I was in serious pain that forced me to slow down a bit. I received a bit of a boost when I heard John cheering for me at the 4k mark and I checked my split... When I was in high school, my best 4k time was 15:44 and I hit the 4k of this race in 14:00!

Seeing that number was exactly what I needed at that moment. Even though my stomach was in knots, I started pushing and tried to calculate what my finishing time was going to be. I really just wanted to finally be under 18 minutes, as that's what I'd been working toward through my entire college career. But I didn't know how fast I was running and it's really hard to do math when you're running fast! I rounded the last turn and kicked as hard as I could, finishing as the 2nd woman but not quite sure about my overall place or my time (which was very confusing because there were 3 different timing mats, all quite spread out, near the finish area and none of them were clearly marked as being the actual finish line). One thing I knew for sure was that I had finally broken the 18-minute mark.

I didn't find out until the middle of the next day just how far under 18:00 I had run... You can imagine my shock when I pulled up the results web page to see 17:18 next to my name. I couldn't believe it! Prior to that race, my cross country PR was 18:17 and my track PR was 18:04. And I just ran a freaking 17:18!?!?!?!?! In the middle of base training?!?!?!

This certainly bodes quite well for the upcoming months, as we start to add in more workouts and gear my training toward steeple and eventually get ready to peak for the big races. While talking to a friend in August of 2010, I told him that my lifetime goal for the 5k is to break 17:00. But, now, that's looking like it could be my season goal. I'm still kind of in shock, but I'm beyond excited to continue chasing down my dreams and beating them into submission. I hope you'll join me on this wild ride!

Next race: USATF Club Cross Country Nationals 6k in Seattle, WA

New Aspiration : Become Aqua-jogging World Champ

Every now and then, even when you're doing everything right, something can happen that tweaks a hip, a knee, an ankle. Even with training going well and being very consistent, sometimes you wake up and something just isn't right. Last Tuesday, this was my ankle. I woke up and it was very stiff. I thought "no big deal... I can run through stiffness, no problem." I laced up my shoes and set out for a 10-mile trail run. About halfway into it, "no big deal" turned into "HUGE deal" as the stiffness quickly turned to pain. Unfortunately, I still had to run 5 miles to get home. I iced the heck out of it and went to bed, hoping that it was just a fleeting incident and I'd be fine in the morning.

I wasn't fine. The pain was so bad on Wednesday morning that I knew there was no way I could run on it. Because I could point to a very specific spot that hurt, I was greatly concerned that it could be a stress fracture. Luckily for me, the people at Northern Arizona Orthopedics were able to get me in for x-rays just a few hours later and the doctor determined that I do not have a stress fracture. Instead, the sheath of one of the tendons in my ankle is inflamed. The prescription? Get your butt in the pool and aqua-jog your heart out.

I spent 5 boring days in the pool (including a 2-hour long "run') and during that time I made up my mind that I want to be the aqua-jogging world champion. I don't care that there isn't such a thing. Don't argue with a delirious injured runner-turned-aquajogger. My friend Erin is going to be the elliptical world champ. Don't judge us.

Once walking was no longer painful, I was allowed to graduate to the bike. I have no aspirations to become an elite cyclist. It's too mainstream, it hurts my butt, and I'd just look silly in those padded shorts (I have enough of a butt already). And it may have taken quite a bit of begging but, after beginning physical therapy yesterday, I was given the go ahead to try a short, easy run when I felt my ankle could handle it. Of course, that meant I laced up my trail shoes just a few short hours later. I tend to be very impatient. Although I probably could have stood to be a bit more cautious, I completed a slow 4-miler without any pain (and supplemented with 45 minutes on my bike). Hooray! And today I ran another 3 miles, still pain-free! I still have more anti-inflammatory medication, ice, and strengthening exercises in my future, but I'm on the mend.

I've gotten a lot better about listening to my body and taking care of myself over the past year, but one of my faults is that I LOVE racing and I have a really hard time knowing when my body can handle a race and when it can't. It's especially hard to resist the lure of prize money. So, Shayla and I still need to sit down and talk about whether I am going to run the Phoenix 5k on Sunday. Stubborn Amanda says she needs to race for the money and the PR. But Sensible Amanda realizes it's risky because the hard effort and fast pace could cause further damage to the tendon and necessitate more down-time from running and cancel the trip to USATF Club Nationals in Seattle in December. Stay tuned for our decision in the next few days...