First Backpacking trip & Just Another Manic Monday

First backpacking trip of the season was a success! We wanted to head out to Silver Creek (which should have been about 3.5 miles in), however we got 3 miles in and the trail was completely socked in with SNOW! We were able to find a nice campsite a little ways off the trail and we didn't meet any other hikers until we were leaving the next morning! 

I managed to get in my tempo long run on Saturday morning before we headed out to the trailhead! It was 75 degrees out and so beautiful. I did 11 miles (was supposed to do 12, but with my colonoscopy the day before I didn't feel like I wanted to push my body anymore & really my fueling was not the best on Friday to push it) and 6 miles at tempo (8:34min/mi) split between outdoors & in (to get away from the heat for a bit). We slept in until 8:30!! So my run was done later than I wanted, but I'm working on trying to listen to my body more! 

We had a Good To-Go 3-bean chili for dinner and it was amazing! When we go out for just a night, we try not to bring in too much food (easier said than done). We were both pretty exhausted and headed to bed well-before hiker midnight (normally 9pm; but we were in bed by 8pm). It got down into the low-30's at night and I was so thankful that I brought my extra heavy-weight wool socks and hat for the next morning! 

We had a Mountain House Freeze Dried Skillet Scramble, which was super good, but really spicy! Definitely helped warm us up (along with our coffee thanks to my trusty Jet Boil). We headed out around 8:30 and were off the trail by 10! 

The rest of Sunday was spent grocery shopping, meal planning, and I fit in a 20 minute swim! I'm trying to add in some more cross-training as my training comes to an end to prevent injury and/or burn-out. 

First watermelon of the season for the Sunday Afternoon win!

Monday morning came around way too sun, but luckily I was able to witness this BEAUTIFUL sunrise on my drive into town for my stretching & run session! 

I did 30 minutes of foam rolling & stretching before heading out for my run this morning. I felt a little tightness in my left glute, but luckily it loosened up after my run and stretching. 

4 easy morning miles to kick-start the week! I headed to my Jumpboard Reformer class during my lunchbreak and that was HARD. Taking a week off always seriously kicks my butt (in a good way though....)

During my meal-prep yesterday, I roasted a whole chicken that we will use for two different dinners this week! Buying & roasting a whole chicken is one of my favorite ways to save $ and time! I chopped it all up yesterday and we used it in our chicken tacos tonight and will use it later this week for a Mediterranean Chicken Pasta dish for Alex's birthday! Things we added to our tacos: chili seasoning & red pepper flakes on the chicken as I reheated it, taco shells (that I can't remember the brand- sorry!), sliced onion, red pepper, avocado, jalapeños, maple valley plain greek yogurt, mexican blend shredded cheese, and hatch green chile salsa!

How's the weather in your area? 

Favorite backpacking spots or do you prefer camping at campgrounds instead?

Do you include more cross-training in the final weeks of your training cycle?

Staple meal prep ingredients?