Ramping up the training and possibly golden rice

**Last day to enter the Happy Family giveaway of organic snacks for kids. Head over and check it out. Right now your chances of winning are pretty high.

This week had some extreme highs and lows, but I'll lay out how training went down. Remember how I'm training for my first 50K at the end of February? Yes. Well when my coach sent me my new four-week training schedule last night, my free time died a little inside. This ultra training is no joke. No Saturday in my new plan has less than 20 miles on the schedule. Yikes.

Training wrap-up

Monday: 4 miles on the track in 37:04 easy miles, 5 slow miles out and back from the gym to the trails behind the library.
Tuesday: 8 miles in 1:12:38 (9:05 pace), easy miles
Wednesday: 2.5 warm-up miles, 1200x2 (90-sec. RI), 2 easy miles, 1200x2 (90-sec RI), 1mile cool down. Splits for the 1200s were 5:35, 5:25, 5:22, 5:21.
Thursday: back to my back being injured.
Friday: tried to run, but my back pain was so bad that I ended up hobbling for a mile on the treadmill. And stretched a ton. Then I went to the best chiropractor ever, and he worked his magic on my back.
Saturday: 15K in 1:36:45 (10:24 pace). I fought hard for that pace considering the muddiness of the trails.
Sunday: 6 recovery miles (around 9:00 pace)

My schedule is changing in that I have lots of slow miles on the schedule, but I'm running way more days. I was supposed to get in 18 miles on Saturday, but it just wasn't going to fit into the schedule. Traveling to the race took a couple hours each way, and by the time we ate and waited for awards, the day had already moved along enough for me to forget those extra miles. Plus I had already disobeyed my chiropractor with one unrecommended running session.

So now I'm on to a new fresh week, hoping that my newly healed back will hold up enough to allow me to stick to my schedule.

The trail that I attempted on Monday was the Boulder Canyon Nature Trail behind our local library.

I was hoping to get in lots of miles back there, but unfortunately I maxed out at four miles, and that included running every trail more than once. 

These trails are great for hiking, but not so great for running. There were just too many little starts and stops to feel like you were actually going anywhere, and the leaves and vines were super thick. There was one section that looked cleared and awesome for running, but it was blocked. Cry. Look at that cool trail leading up the hill.

It was excellent practice for Saturday's trail run with all the creek crossings. Although I should have just jumped in to actually be prepared for the mud bath on Saturday. 

I can't get enough of running into random rock formations around here. This will be a cool summer playground for the kids. Bathing suits required. Or not, considering my kids' streaking habits. They can't get rid of clothes fast enough. 

What the kids don't want to get rid of is some of our new eats. They loved this chicken dijon I made. The salad is topped with homemade fig dressing (so freaking good), and I used a mix of brown and black rice to go with the chicken.

During this clean eating experiment, I've discovered that it is impossible to find sauces and dressings made without some type of sugar. If you know of some, please fill me in!

While I was trying to find some I ran across the most expensive rice ever at Wal-mart. It's the size of a salt shaker. Is there something about this rice that I'm unaware of, like it has a gold coin at the bottom of the shaker?

And I've officially turned into a grumpy old lady. That's two posts in a week complaining about the prices of products at the grocery store. Plus I love to wear polyester, so I automatically qualify.

What's your favorite salad dressing? Is it sugar free? 

Do you stick to rocks when crossing a creek or splash straight through the water?

Is your training plan ramping up or down right now? Mine is definitely going up, and I'm nervous!