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August 1, 2016

Weekend: Matt’s Birthday + Marathon Training 14 Miler

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This weekend was all about celebrating Matt’s birthday, which was on Saturday! Per our tradition, when it’s your birthday in our household you get breakfast in bed. 🙂 Matt never wants anything too big first thing so I kept it low key with some festive toast and one of his famous maple cinnamon lattes!

IMG_0149

Matt requested we start his birthday with a bike ride, so we pushed off late morning to enjoy the sunshine. He has been biking every few weeks with a bunch of his guy friends but they always go really fast and far so I bow out – I hadn’t taken my bike out in FOREVER! It was fun to mix it up. 🙂

w&od trail biking

We biked out to Vienna on the W&OD trail and stopped at the Whole Foods right off the trail for an early lunch/brunch. I hit up their hot bar and got some roasted potatoes, eggs, bacon, and veggies! Plus an Honest Tea. 🙂

vienna whole foods breakfast hot bar

Also – hi to the blog reader who we met at Whole Foods! 🙂

Matt wanted to check out a brewery nearby called Caboose Brewing Co – it’s only about a mile farther down the trail, just past Vienna. When we arrived, it had just started POURING – perfect timing to hole up and wait it out!

caboose brewing co vienna

We both loved the brewery – such a cool vibe and neat that it’s right next to the trail. We will definitely be back! I also want to try their food – I didn’t realize they’d have more than just snacks – the menu sounded really good!

Once we got home we headed to the mall to get Matt a new pair of Ray Bans for his birthday to replace the ones he dropped in the lake at Alpine Meadows Resort in Canada! His other gifts were some fun little things – garlic olive oil, a local hot sauce I picked up in Philadelphia last week, and a bunch more Bombas invisible socks to wear under boat shoes – he says they are the ONLY brand that will stay up!

For dinner, we headed out on the town with a big group of friends. We hit up Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon, which we were devastated to learn recently is closing soon! 🙁 SO SAD! We love that place and have been going there for over 10 years now. I got my absolute fave for the last time – the lamb salad. Don’t leave us, Woodgrill!!!

boulevard woodgrill lamb salda

Post-dinner birthday apple tart!

IMG_0150

On Sunday morning I was up early to meet a few of my track buddies for a Marine Corps Marathon training long run! They are all training for Chicago (a few weeks before MCM, so they are ahead of me in distance) and had a step down week – 14 miles – which was awesome because my coaches told me to do 14 miles this week, too! Perfect.

capital crescent trail marathon training

We hit up the nice and shaded Capital Crescent Trail again – that shade makes such a difference! Doing an out and back is always nice, too – no guesswork/trying to time a loop right. We did 7 miles up, 7 back, turning around a couple miles past downtown Bethesda.

For fuel, I did a few Clif margarita shot bloks again, and I brought my trusty Nathan hydration pack as well.

capital crescent trail long run

I was feeling a bit dehydrated and tired for the first half of the run (I always forget to drink enough water when biking so that’s probably why), but I got an awesome second wind near the end. Our coaches had us do the first 9 miles at a casual-for-us pace (we were doing about 9:30 to 9:45), and then told us to pick it up to 8:45 minute/miles for miles 9 to 13. Surprisingly, picking up the pace actually made me feel better! I think it reset things a bit for me and gave me some adrenaline, too. Since we had a slight downhill on the way back we actually ended up going quite a bit faster than 8:45 for those miles – closer to 8:15. Wow! I’ve never incorporated speedier miles into long runs before – I was proud of us for crushing it.

I ended up just keeping the speed going to the finish – I like finishing fast in a blaze of glory apparently. Felt good!

This was the first time in nearly 3 years that I’ve run over 13.1 miles. Wow! I didn’t have this watch (the Garmin Forerunner 225) when I was full marathon training the first two times (for the Richmond Marathon and then the LA Marathon), so it congratulated me on my new distance record. 🙂

long run record congrats from garmin watch

Great run!

14 mile training run

Once I get over the half marathon distance I start incorporating ice baths post-long run – it helps a TON for me with recovery and is easier than sitting around with ice packs all day, too. I brought some hot tea and my phone with me to distract from the cold. Zara is hilarious whenever baths are involved – she’s fascinated by the water! I hung out in the waist-deep chilly water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Good enough!

marathon training ice bath with cat

I ate some random snacks while getting ready and then Matt and I headed over to my parent’s house for a family birthday lunch celebration – it was a joint one for Matt and my aunt, whose birthday was Sunday! We ordered Rocklands BBQ for the occasion – sooooo good. Plus some unpictured cake and ice cream for dessert, obviously!

birthday rocklands bbq

Such a fun weekend. I hope your weekends were great, too!

What fun fitness did you do this weekend? What was the most delicious thing you ate?

- anne
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25 comments
  • Grace G August 1, 2016 · 11:50AM:
    Hi Anne! I'm training for the Richmond Marathon (just two weeks after MCM) so I also had a long run this week (15 mi) and tried out the margarita shot blocks! I loved them. I'm just wondering how many you would normally eat on a 14 mi run like this one? I was starting to fade in the last 1.5 mi and I think maybe I didn't eat enough of them throughout the run. Thanks!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 1, 2016 · 2:12PM:
      I think I ate 3 of them on the 14 miler! :)
      Reply
  • Danielle @ Wild Coast Tales
    August 1, 2016 · 11:56AM:
    Congrats on hitting that distance! Always such a great feeling, especially if you haven't done it in awhile. Fun to hear about speeding up your long runs partway through - I often read about that, but have yet to incorporate it!
    Reply
  • Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona
    August 1, 2016 · 12:03PM:
    Sounds like a fun weekend balanced between celebrating and workouts. Those are my favorite weekends. I don't think I've ridden my bike at all so far this summer - I'll definitely have to get it out of the garage sometime soon. Haha you're cat does look pretty mesmerized by the water in the bath tub!
    Reply
  • Laura
    August 1, 2016 · 12:56PM:
    I made brownies topped with a salted caramel sauce, so delicious! I had plans to bike this weekend but my daughter came down with an ear infection and we were all pretty lacking on sleep so I prioritized napping while she was napping instead of biking as planned. Hoping to get one in this week instead!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 1, 2016 · 2:11PM:
      Good to listen to your body! Those brownies sound awesome!
      Reply
  • Beth August 1, 2016 · 12:59PM:
    What a fabulous weekend you had including that bikeride and hitting the distance. Happy birthday to Matt and Auntie!
    Reply
  • Aurora@Fitness is Sweet
    August 1, 2016 · 1:35PM:
    Happy Birthday to Matt! I made raspberry chocolate chip banana bread and it was amazing!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 1, 2016 · 2:11PM:
      Sounds delish!
      Reply
  • Shel@PeachyPalate
    August 1, 2016 · 1:36PM:
    Happy Birthday to Matt!!!!
    Reply
  • Ash Diamond
    August 1, 2016 · 1:42PM:
    Great job on that run!! Also, did you make that tart? Recipe please!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 1, 2016 · 2:11PM:
      Nope, it's from Whole Foods!
      Reply
  • Roadrunner August 1, 2016 · 3:09PM:
    Impressive times on the final miles of the 14 miler, especially considering the heat/humidity. Well done!
    Reply
  • Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment
    August 1, 2016 · 5:05PM:
    Love the cinnamon, maple lattes. Sounds like an amazing weekend. Congrats to all.
    Reply
  • Ellen @ My Uncommon Everyday
    August 1, 2016 · 9:40PM:
    What a fun weekend! I did a lot of baking and (nicely) tricked my dad into easily running 5 miles - farther than he thought he could. Must've given him some confidence, since he randomly agreed to try a 10k with me next weekend! :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 2, 2016 · 9:57AM:
      That's awesome! :)
      Reply
  • Amy @ Thoroughly Nourished Life
    August 1, 2016 · 11:17PM:
    Happy birthday Matt! Congratulations on the long run Anne :) Your weekend sounds wonderful! I need to try out Matt's famous lattes too. Perfect for the cool mornings we are having. My fitness this weekend included a 9km run and then a big walk on Sunday. I love looking at all the big houses in our neighbourhood so my sticky-beaking pays off in miles :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 2, 2016 · 9:57AM:
      Cool mornings - man, i'm jealous!
      Reply
  • Nandita Dhuri
    August 2, 2016 · 6:08AM:
    Belated Happy Birthday matt.
    Reply
  • Kori
    August 2, 2016 · 8:59AM:
    Unfortunately, I did not do a lot of exercising this past weekend, but I did have a great weekend! :) Hitting up the gym this week, and I'm hoping to meet my sister at our downtown YMCA location, which offers different equipment. I love twin gym dates. =D I'd have to say the most delicious thing I ate was my breakfast on Sunday. One slice of spouted sesame toast with PB, cinnamon banana soft serve, and bacon coconut. I had another slice of sprouted sesame toast with guacamole, a fluffy scrambled egg, and freshly shredded cheddar. Then I made a pumpkin spice latte using pumpkin spice coffee from Earth Fare, warmed frothed milk, and a drizzle of local honey. It was so tasty!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 2, 2016 · 9:57AM:
      Sounds delicious!
      Reply
  • Kris S August 2, 2016 · 9:17AM:
    Sounds like an awesome weekend! Happy Birthday Matt!!! :D
    Reply
  • Arthi
    August 3, 2016 · 12:07PM:
    Great run! Got in a 16-miler on Saturday and got in a 14-miler today (heading out on vacation this weekend)! Ready to relax! Best thing I ate all weekend ... Chocolate chip cookie from Insomnia Cookies ... YUM!
    Reply
    • Anne
      August 3, 2016 · 5:59PM:
      Way to go! I'm getting my long run out of the way early this week too - on Friday!
      Reply
  • masala girl
    August 8, 2016 · 1:39PM:
    Happy Belated Birthday, Matt!! I've always been not a huge sweets person, but brownies and anything apple (esp apple pie! Or tart. Or crumb. Mhmmm! lol) are my weakness. I've been having a few at all the bakeries in Italy! And matt's looks amazing!! Jeals.
    Reply
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anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
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anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

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