I loooove Instagram! I could spend (and have spent) hours on Instagram browsing through people’s pictures. I have set up an Instagram account for this blog – check it out here: naschkatzeruns.
Month: July 2015
Balance.
I’m happy to see that I have some readers! I’m still learning how the blogging world works exactly, but I find it amazing that people can already find my blog through Google searches! I used to have a pretty successful blog about language learning, but I haven’t posted anything in it for a few years.
I’m almost two months into my official marathon training and I am very excited! I am spending my free time checking out running blogs, websites, forums, YouTube videos, reading books and magazines about running, learning as much as possible. This is all good and great until I end up getting tired of it. I know myself. I have always been like this. I get so completely consumed with a pursuit or passion and start to make real progress in it, and then I give up. As a child it was gymnastics, soccer, swimming, environmentalism (I had an Earth Club!), horses, dogs, cats, figure skating, surfing, biking, basketball,… but I never stuck with anything. Part of me wishes that my parents had been a little bit stricter with me when I wanted to quit, but of course it was my decision. They were always very supportive of whatever I wanted to do.
Now I’m into running. Really into running. For the past few years I’ve had periods of being into running and not into running. It always came and went. Now, I am really enjoying my running obsession. It’s my summer project. But in order to make it sustainable, I am making sure to enjoy running and all things running related in balance. I’m making sure to take rest days. I’m meeting friends for a drink. I’m going to the cinema. I’m reading books. (Okay.. some running related ones as well!)
Also with my diet. I had been eating horribly in the past few months. Horribly as in I would go days without seeing a vegetable. Living off of frozen pizza and ice cream, chocolate croissants and muffins. In the past month and a half, I have lost weight and I’m feeling strong. I’ve really found balance in what I eat. I try to eat healthy 80% of the time, but I am not restricting myself. If I want to have some tomato mozzarella stuffed pasta topped with parmesan cheese, I will! But instead of stuffing myself with it, I will make a slightly smaller serving and serve it over a salad so that I get some veggies as well.
If the sun is shining and I’m feeling like a cold treat, I will do this after my run:
There’s a place for everything, and balance is so important. Happy Running and Happy Naschen!
Cross Training of the Week: Blogilates
First and most importantly: I am in no way shape or form an expert on these things. I am writing about my own personal experiences and what has worked and what has not worked for me! Everybody is different and it’s important to know what’s right for you and your body. Please consult experts when it comes to your health and fitness regime!
That being said, something (one of many things) that I neglected in my past experiences when training for a race was cross training. Cross training is basically any sort of physical activity that keeps you active without tiring out your running legs. There are many many things that you can do to cross train, and they can be tons of fun and in my opinion they are (second to the long runs) one of the most important parts of a running/race training schedule.
Something magical has been happening to my body in the last few weeks. Muscles are appearing where muscles have never been before. I have more energy than I have had in a long time. I am excited to work out. And most exciting for me, my running pace is getting faster.
The biggest changes I have made in the past few weeks have been: what I have been eating (more on that later!) and Blogilates.
I have been following Cassey Ho‘s workout plan pretty faithfully since the beginning of June, with some minor adjustments depending on my running schedule (For example, an intense long run + lean leg day = no thanks!) Cassey posts all of her workout videos on Youtube. You will either love or hate her positivity and bubbly personality (this usually depends on which rep of the move you are on), but her workouts are serious business. They are all pretty short so you can mix and match them up as you like depending on which part of your body you want to work on. I usually do 4-5 videos a day. I feel like I am working all of the parts of my body pretty equally and it is REALLY helping my running.
If I have any readers out there, do you supplement your running with Pilates or any similar workouts? I’d love to hear from you!
Summer Goal: Dreiländer Marathon
One of my dreams for the past few years has been to run the Dreiländer Marathon.
Dreiländer means “three country” and this Marathon gets it’s name because while running the Marathon, you cross two international borders and run through three countries: Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. When I first heard of this Marathon I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I have always been fascinated by borders and I’d always be the one to say “Now I’m in *insert country here*, and now I’m in *insert country here*!” I would even do it when I was a kid driving with my parents to Prince Edward Island on vacation. I was always excited to pass the border between provinces (“Now we’re in Nova Scotia! Now we’re nowhere [driving through the space between the provinces]! Now we’re in New Brunswick!”. I thought being able to say “I just ran through three countries, no big deal.” would make me very happy.
I had actually signed up for this Marathon before, about three summers ago, and then I got a pulled muscle in my foot that took about a week and a half to heal and this was enough to kill my motivation and for laziness to set in and I gave up.
Ever since I first heard of this marathon, I knew I wanted it to be the first Marathon that I would run eventually. It was never an “if”, it was a “when??”. I figured about a month ago that if not this summer then when? So I have taken it on as my summer project to train for the “Three Country” Marathon which is in October. Check out this video if you are curious about finding out more about this Marathon! The route is beautiful!
I’ve been training for a little over a month now and things are going well! I’ve been focusing a lot more on cross-training than I ever have and this is really making a difference in my running performance. More on this in the next post.
My running story.
My first running steps (other than the obligatory torture that we all go through in High School gym class) happened when I was 18. I decided I wanted to do the Couch-to-5K running plan. I can still remember my first session, thinking I could never EVER run for longer than 60 seconds at a time. I was trying to catch my breath, staring at my watch as those last seconds passed by and it was finally time for the walking interval. Fast forward to nine weeks later, and I was out running three times a week for 30 minutes a session and I was loving it! I was getting in shape and was developing an addiction to running. Unfortunately, this didn’t last forever. I had a few great months, and then got lazy and stopped running completely. Luckily, once you are bitten by the running bug, it always comes back.
Fast forward to five years later and I was crossing the finish line at a Half-Marathon! In between, there were good times and bad. 5Ks, 10Ks and lazy days. Days where I was excited to jump out of bed and go running, and other days where I stayed under the covers with ice cream.
My relationship with running has always been this way. On for a few weeks, off for a few weeks. On for a few months, off for a few months. This is something I’m working on, and I’ve been pretty good in the last two years.
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Right now, I have a plan. A mission! But, that will have to wait for the next post!
Welcome to my blog!
Hello! My name is Jessica and this is going to be my fitness/running/food blog! I am starting this blog because I am a big fan of running blogs, and an especially big fan of blogs that combine food and running, because you can’t run without food, right?
The name “Naschkatzeruns” is a German-English hybrid. I am from Canada but I have been living in Vienna, Austria for over six years. One thing I love about German is how it has some words that just do not exist in other languages. For example, to be a “Naschkatze” means to have a sweet tooth but it would literally translate as “Munch-cat”, like a cat who loves to munch. I love this word and definitely feel represented by it as I do love to munch!
I’m not sure exactly in what direction I’m going to go with this blog – we’ll just have to see! Thanks for stopping by!
Naschkatze Runs 