7 Things

Happy Monday! Typing this out at 4am during my lunch break at work. Healthcare life is weird sometimes.

At least we got out for a snowshoe together on Saturday before I started my next 3-day work stretch! Love how we can make a mile loop in our backyard.

Tested out this grain seasoning on fresh homemade white crusty bread and it was delicious!

I might have found my new favorite thing to help me fall asleep at night. It tastes decadent, I stay asleep for at least 8 hours, and I don’t wake-up ‘foggy’ like Melatonin sometimes makes me.

Still have a sweet spot for snowy runs. I love the quietness and quant feeling that running in falling snow brings.

Our girl kitty, Maples is feeling much better after her surgery last week (she got a Bladder Stone removed)! Even was into watching Jeopardy too. We both really miss Alex from hosting the show, but honestly Ken is doing a great job!

Oops signed up for another race (probably will be virtual, but excited for my first triathlon!)

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—Favorite weather to run in?
-Thoughts on Jeopardy’s new host?

Feature Friday: Home Gym Essentials

Happy Feature Friday on a Saturday! You know how somedays you’re just really not into doing certain things- well, that was me yesterday. I got through some chores/things on my to-do list and then I just really wanted to lounge on the couch and do nothing. SO, I did just that. I think sometimes I get into such a mindset that I need to ‘go go go’, when in reality-> it’s OK to not do everything on your to-do list. If you did everything on your to-do list in one day, then what would you have to look forward to tomorrow? I would (most likely) make another to-do list. ANYWAYS- enough on my tangent. I wanted to share with your some of my home gym essentials that I LOVE to have at my disposal (and there are still a few things that I definitely want). Now that most of the fitness centers around me are closed, I’ve slowly started to incorporate my favorites weights/foam rollers/tools to have at my disposal. No affiliate links here- just sharing what I love to hopefully help inspire someone else to continue to build their tools!

• Foam Roller - love to use this to massage my IT band, back, glutes, quads

• Massage Ball - love to use this to massage out my feet and calf muscles

• Resistance Bands- use them to help warm-up my glutes and legs before a run!

• Floor Sliders- I use these for SO much (they slide well on a Yoga Mat). Lunges, skaters, planks on my knees with pushing one arm out at a time..

• Pilates Ball- I use this to help engage my core. Donkey Kicks, between the legs for bridges or clam shells, behind my low back to help me engage the c-curve in my spine..

• Free weights- These have certainly been hard to come by during the Pandemic (and I’m still looking for relatively inexpensive heavier weights), but they are great to add to your collection!

• Ball- Love to do hamstring curls on this one.

• Treadmill- OK, this one is definitely only if you need one/ will use it often, but we LOVE our Nordictrack so so much. I never thought I would look forward to running on a treadmill, but ours is so sturdy and fun and I love to run fast on it.

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Any other favorite home gym equipment essentials that you love?

Training Rundown

Happy Humpday! I have the next few days off, which is good since our girl kitty (Maple) just had surgery yesterday (😭). She had a bladder stone the size of a fingernail and is doing OK- She’s home and the pain medications they gave here are still in effect (so she’s pretty loopy).

Last weeks training was a bit of a cluster thanks to 2-hour doctor appointments, working 4 shifts in a row, and dealing with the side effects from the Moderna COVID vaccine.

Monday, 1/25- 60 minutes easy & 20 mins strength & yoga

Tuesday, 1/26- 45 minutes easy & PT mobility work before my last night shift of the week

Wednesday, 1/27- Rest Day. Between 1.5 hours of sleep after working all night, doctors appointment (just meeting my new PCP!), driving 2 hours to get home, and teaching skating lessons I just didn’t feel like running-> so I didn’t . It’s important to listen to your body and adjust your expectations to it.

Thursday, 1/28- Got my second COVID vaccine, but still managed to sneak in my PT exercises and 45 minutes of hill work on the treadmill. 10 minutes up/ 5 x1 min @ 10% incline (1 min recovery)/ 5 min tempo at 7:08/ 5 x 1 min @10% incline/ 10 minutes down. That was fun?!? 🤩

Friday, 1/29- Complete rest day. This is when the side effects really wiped me out. Slept most of the day.

Saturday, 1/30- Felt a bit better, but didn’t want to push it so did an hour easy , 20 min indoor cycling, and PT exercises.

Sunday, 1/31- Another rest day, but got in my PT exercises. Had to get up at 3am to get to work by 6:30am and by the time I got out and had dinner, it was 8:30pm. Just not enough tIme in the day!
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How do you adjust your training and expectations when things go awry? I used to be really bad at that, but have slowly learned that things happen and that’s life! I’m doing the best I can with what I have.

7 Things

Happy February?!? Normally I feel like January TAKES FOREVER to end, but this month just flew by. Happy to report that I’m fully vaccinated as of last Thursday.

Also celebrated with a trip to King Arthur Baking Company (if you couldn’t tell from the photo) and it was EVERYTHING. I mean- look at all this flour 😍

Also got the best Lemon Poppy Muffin mix from there (along with so many wonderful extra baking supplies).

The second virus dose gave me some more side effects than the first one (to be expected), so I did almost nothing on Friday (actually I might have met a record for the amount of times that Netflix asked me ‘Are You Still Watching?’). But I did also started On Pointe on Disney Plus and I’m basically obsessed. Love shoes like this.

Also had lots of cat cuddles the past few days (I worked on Sunday). This is the only way that Brady will snuggle with me: AS CLOSE TO MY FACE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

My muscle aches and chills/mild fever and pure exhaustion went away Saturday morning (I got my second dose Thursday morning at 8:30 and started experiencing symptoms at 6pm Thursday), but I still took my exercise easy just in case. Did an hour on the treadmill rather than 2 and some strength training and indoor cycling.

Back to work on Sunday and hoping that the snowstorm that we’re getting on Tuesday comes early so I can make it home Tuesday night (rather than staying over) 🤞🏻Flashback to the last time we were only supposed to get ‘6 inches early in the day’- we got 33” 🙀

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-Favorite type of bread?
-Favorite type of flour?

-Yay or nay for extra snow in the forecast?

Feature Friday: Letting Your Training Marinate

You know I’m all about Carbs over here, so anytime I can relate training to something carbohydrate related- I’m all for it. It’s taken me so long to realize that training and fitness can ebb and flow. It’s funny how I often have to remind myself of that (especially among set-backs or when training starts up again and everything feels hard). Once I get into a routine with training and life and diet, I’m GREAT, but getting there takes so much patience.

It’s ok (and honestly HEALTHY) to go through different seasons of life and running- maybe taking a break is what you need or totally just doing a different activity for awhile (I certainly think that this Pandemic has taught us a whole lot about being patient). It’s the seasons of change and cut-backs that rejuvenate our minds and bodies and gives us the permission to dream big again. It’s all of the ingredients in our best homemade tomato sauce that we’re collecting and prepping.

Once we’ve got all of our ingredients ready to go (our training plan is set), we’re ready to start popping them into the pot. This is when we we’re adding a little bit at a time into our training. Maybe we sprinkle in some speedwork, a bit of a longer run, or a dash of tempo work. BUT we also can’t forget about the little things (I.e. our ‘seasonings’ if we’re sticking with the sauce reference)- like the importance of sleep/ nutrition/ stretching/strength training/foam rolling.

Then, we continue with our ingredients and let them simmer (marinate) for awhile. Nothing really new is added (maybe a bit of additional mileage), but we just continue on building a bit at a time. Our sauce (& fitness) will slowly come together, but it takes time (and a whole bunch of PATIENCE)! I continue to remind myself of this when I feel stuck or like I’m making no progress-> really good sauce takes time.

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-What ingredients are you adding now for a really good sauce later?