Where's the Beach?

Monday Gym Day Today I decided to go with my typical (or what has become my typical) Monday routine of hitting up the gym for elliptical and weights. I started with about 15 minutes of the elliptical today, then hit the weights for back and biceps. I went with trisets of 3x8. TS#1 Underhand barbell rows Pullovers Single-arm rows TS#2 Dumbbell curls Hammer curls Cross-body curls Assisted pullups - 8 Concentration curls - 5 (went pretty heavy with idea of just going to failure) I finished out with another 15 minutes on the elliptical. Overall, a really strong workout. It was definitely what I needed today as a stress reliever. Mustard Sauce for Monday I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do for dinner tonight. Last night I actually had cereal (gaps). We had some asparagus that needed to be used up quickly, so I went with that and built the meal around roasted asparagus. I did roasted sweet potatoes (rosemary, salt, pepper, parsley), roasted asparagus (salt and...

Boxing Over Running I had thought that I might run today depending on the weather. I just wanted to head out for an easier 4-miler. My training plan had originally called for 5-6 yesterday and 9-10 today. Unfortunately, it was really windy and looked like rain all day. I took that as a sign that I needed to do something other than get in a run. So, I went with Cathe's MMA Boxing then abs from Power Hour . It was a fun workout and time flew by this morning. Errands, Chores, More Car Shopping After the workout, I started working on some house chores before we decided to head out to run some errands. We recently rearranged the living room, and I wanted a new lamp for a side table. We hit up Kirkland's and scored a great deal on the perfect lamp - $16.97! Then we hit up Target and a few car lots before decided we really had to eat before we could even think about the grocery store. While eating, however, we talked ourselves into going back to one of the lots to test drive ...

Sort of Good Run Today I had planned on doing at least 11 miles for my last long run before the half marathon next Sunday. We ended up having plans to go to the race track (about an hour away) with friends and also wanted to go back and look at a car. This meant we needed to get up and get the run done sooner than later. I had hoped to be out the door by 8:30, it ended up being 9. It was sunny, about 40 degrees, and low winds. Not too shabby. I have a tendency to over dress for the cooler runs, but today I did good. Not too many layers at all. Jason, however, was overheated within 10 minutes. This is the same person who always reminds me that I get too hot. Anyway, so he's already hot and he decided to wear this particular jacket for the extra pockets. Rather than using the water bottle running belt he has, he had the brilliant idea of stashing two bottles in the back pockets. Let's just say he quickly realized that was a huge mistake as they were bouncing around everywher...

Early Morning Weights I guess I just have so much on my mind that sleep is just not happening this week. I tossed and turned most of the night, finally getting out of bed just after 5am. I decided to go ahead and get in my chest and shoulder workout. I had thought I would do triceps as well, but my left elbow has been bothering me. When I do chest and triceps at the same time, it makes it worse, so I'm resting the tris. I went with supersets of 3x8 (big surprise) unless noted: Pushups - 24 Shoulder press (warmup) - 10 reps SS#1 Flat bench chest flye Chest press SS#2 DB shoulder press Lateral raises SS#3 Incline bench chest flye Incline bench chest press SS#4 DB upright rows Rear delt flye Staggered press - 12 reps Front raise - 12 reps I did abs from Cathe's High Reps (I seriously love that ab workout) and called it a morning. Fun Facts Friday - The Little Things Since I've been struggling with not letting this whole car situation bring me d...

Dreary Day Today was one of those really gloomy, gray days that make you want to stay in bed. The only thing I was looking forward to was finally having the insurance company start the process of considering my car a loss as tomorrow marks 3 weeks since it was stolen. I swear, Jason and I have done nothing but talk about cars, prices, numbers, etc. for the past few days. Somehow, I expected a bit of relief from that pressure. Instead, when the lady calls Jason, she says that she got a report that the car was found on the 22nd. Um...news to us... So roller coaster of emotions going on. Turns out that only the license plate was found. For real??? Could they not have figured that out first? We don't know how long it will take for them to determine the value of my car and to get a check now. Could be tomorrow, could be Monday. I just know I'll be so very glad for all of this to be over with. Dreading Dreadmill  Anyway, the gray day turned into severe storms and tornado war...

Today I am enjoying a rest day. I actually woke up around 4:30 this morning and tried to go back to sleep, but around 5:20 I was still awake. I almost got up to get in chest, shoulders, triceps. But after some debating with myself, I realized that yesterday's back/biceps workout would negatively affect any upper body weights today as my biceps are indeed talking to me. So, it was a rest day. Tomorrow is supposed to be terribly stormy weather unfortunately. That means I'm going to have to take my run indoors. Not super excited about it as it calls for 6 miles followed by incline intervals then speed drills. I can handle the intervals and the drills, but 6 miles steady-state??? I may be fudging that plan once again (and I won't feel bad about it one bit). After work, I finally went to test drive a couple of cars. My required list is easy: sporty, 2-door, convertible or sunroof, zoom zoom on the speed. I would prefer a standard as that's all I've driven. I don'...

Legs, My Aching Legs I must say that last night after sitting down to eat dinner, I wasn't sure my legs were ever going to function normally again after this sequence of workouts: 12-mile run (Sat), legs (Sun), 8-mile with intervals (Mon). Let's just say we need a new thing of tiger balm now. Of course, the reason I did the run on Monday rather than today was because I was supposed to have jury duty. I didn't have a clue what the day would bring so I was prepared to make it a rest day if needed. I called the number last night as directed and listened to the names being rattled off, not once, but twice through because my name was never called. At the end of the message it just said that if they didn't say your name, you didn't have to report until further notice. Seriously???? Oh well, at least I got the run done right?  This morning, oddly enough, my legs weren't nearly as bad off as I had expected. I can walk normally and even hover over the toilet at work...

Running Unfortunately I didn't have the day off like many people. If you did have the day off, no bragging please! I had originally though that I was going to just hit the gym for a bit of elliptical time and weights. I ended up opting for tomorrow's run instead because I have jury duty tomorrow and don't know what the day will hold for me. I am trying to get back on track with my half marathon training plan this week since I pretty much tossed it out the window last week. The run called for 3 miles, 2 x(2:00, 3:00, 4:00) athletic intervals, 2 miles. It was super windy again and drizzly out. When I left work, it looked like it was going to start raining again, so I took the run to the treadmill. Of course, the sun ended up coming out...but it was still windy. Anyway, after the intervals, I was already at 6.7 miles. There was just no way I could pull out another 2 miles, but I did round it out to a solid 8 miles. I got home and pulled out my yoga mat (per the norm) an...

Sushi Saturday (Not Homemade) Well, in the end, we had sushi, but not homemade. We kind of waited too late to get started, not paying attention to the prep time for the rice. So we went with plan B. There is a sushi place nearby. I made some veggie spring rolls and baked some tofu I had marinated in a peanut butter sauce (PB2, OJ, rice wine vinegar, tamari). Jason was really only supposed to pick up a couple of rolls for he and my sister. Instead he picked up 3 rolls for them, some edamame, wakame salad, and spring rolls (though I was making some, he insisted on trying theirs, but they were fried). Anyway, it ended up being quite the spread. The next time she is over, however, we will be making homemade sushi rolls and I promise to take process pictures as well as end-result pictures. Legs I sacked out at 10 pm last night and slept hard. I guess that's what running 12 miles will do to you. This morning I got up expecting to be more sore, but I wasn't. My calves are a litt...

12 Miles This morning started off a bit cloudy, but quickly cleared off into an incredibly beautiful, 70-degree day. While I am loving the sun and warmer weather, I will admit that we should have set out for our run today a bit earlier as it got HOT. No complaints though. I'll take that over snow, ice, or blustery winds. My goal for today was to hit 11 miles. We decided to run most of the race course so that I would have an idea of the route and what to expect. We ended up hitting just over 12 miles. For the most part, it was a really good run. I only had a bit of piriformis pain around mile 4, but it sort worked itself out I guess. My calves started getting super tight about 9 miles in, so I refocused on my form, did a few kick butts just to get my body moving differently. The route passed by our house so we had stashed spare water in the yard, soooo needed by that time too. It was really nice getting an idea of the route - especially knowing the parts that are going to be ...

Just For Fun Cardio  Last night was a super restless night of sleep for me. I ended up waking up for the last time at 5:11 am. I was really going to make today a second rest day for the week (gasp), something totally unheard of for me. But since I was up, I decided to do something short and fun just to get the blood flowing. I didn't want anything leg intensive (trying to save my legs for tomorrow's long run), so I went with Cathe's MMA Kickboxing - just doing the first two combos only. It took just about 20 minutes, then I stretched for a bit before getting ready for work. It was a nice way to start the day. No pressure to get in a certain amount of cardio or any particular weights. Just for fun. Freaking Out and Fun Friday  So, today was the day to sign up for the Cathe Road Trip . I was so excited about the prospect of meeting up with Jessica and Jolene again AND meeting Madeline for the first time. At the same time, there was a great deal weighing on me with t...

Way Way Off Running Plan So today I thought I was going to hit the trails again for another fantastic outdoor run. The temps were perfect, but the wind was so out of control. Not even gusting 23 mph, just flat out 23 mph. Um, no thank you. I might be fairly crazy, but I'm not totally crazy (ok, that might be a lie). Anyway, as much as I wanted to run outside, and as much as I wanted to attempt to semi-salvage this week's training plan (which is so completely out the window), I hit the gym instead. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up and then hit the weights for shoulders and triceps. I started to go with supersets (very typical) but ended up doing trisets of 3x8 followed by 2 additional exercises: TS#1 Shoulder press Lateral raises Rear delt press Front raise open to side - 8 TS#2 Double-arm overhead triceps press Lying triceps extensions Double-arm kickbacks Triceps dips - 16 After the weights I did some ab exercises before returning to th...

Running Off Plan I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes. Apparently it was a short-lived bug (thank goodness). The last time I had a stomach bug, I was literally down (not even a mere thought of working out or even eating) for two full days. I feel pretty much back to human today. I have been a little dehydrated, so I've been chugging water all day. My first thought was that I was going to do yesterday's planned training run today. I was getting super excited. Well, as excited as one could get about: 3 miles, 2 x (2:00, 3:00, 4:00 intervals), 2 miles. Jason gently reminded me that I had been sick and it'd probably be in my best interest to not go out full force like a loon. So I listened to reason and just headed down to the Big Dam Bridge with the intent of just seeing what I could do. Just a run, no crazy intervals, no hill repeats. Of course, this means I'm totally off training plan this week. But that's ok, or it's gotta be ok at least. Anyw...

Valentine's Day Dinner As I promised, I logged off after posting yesterday. Jason and I had been talking about dinner ideas for many days. He decided to take on the cooking part, so I sat back and relaxed and kept him company. I had made some homemade Seitan Cutlets recently, so the plan was to use those and make some sort of mushroom sauce. Jason and bought some vegan demi-glace a few weeks back that he decided to pull out and try. We also had some beets, kabocha squash, new potatoes, one last parsnip, and spinach. Menu: Seitan Cutlets with Mushroom Demi-Glace, Roasted New Potatoes & Parsnips, Roasted Beets & Kabocha Squash with Wilted Spinach.       Everything was so good. I loved the earthy flavor of the beets combined with the slightly sweet and softer texture of the kabocha squash. And I think we figured out the way we like parsnips....baking the crap out of them. They cannot be even the slightest bit underdone. Stomach Bug & Soup We didn't do an...

No Cereal After All Well, after much debate over dinner, we did not eat cereal after all. Jason ended up putting together some Toasted Tempeh and Bean Burritos by browning tempeh, along with red beans, red and green bell peppers, onions, some salsa, and typical Tex-Mex spices with a splash of lime juice. We sprinkled some whole-wheat wraps with Daiya, filled them with the mix, rolled and toasted up. I have a feeling we'll make these again. They were tasty, filling, and fairly simple.  Monday Gym Day It's another absolutely gorgeous day here. Too bad I didn't have a run scheduled or that's what I would have done during lunch. Trying to follow the plan (for the most part), I didn't run but rather hit the gym for back and biceps and a short elliptical stint. It's pretty much the same routine as last Tuesday. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical then hit the weights going with 3 sets of 8 reps: Assisted pullups - 8 SS#1 Alternating biceps curls Un...

Working Out So today I ended up ditching my half marathon training plan again. It called for 4 miles. It was a gorgeous, warm day, but really windy (gusting 18 mph). I just couldn't seem to get excited about running. So, I ended up doing chest, legs, boxing, and abs instead. Pushups - 24 Flat bench chest flyes into press - 3x8 Pushups with toes on step - 16 Squats into Plie Squats with low-end pulse - 3x8 Incline bench flyes into press - 3x8 Staggered bench press - 12 Rear leg elevated lunges into deadlifts - 3x8 Firewalkers - 6 Calf raises - 2x16 I did the upper body only from combos 1 and 2 of Cathe's MMA Boxing t hen abs from High Rep s. I did stretch for a bit after the workout before getting cleaned up. Chores & Kitchen Boycott Jason was nice enough to go to the grocery store while I was working out, then he headed out for a bike ride. In the meantime, I did laundry (washed, not folded mind you), made some hummus, and spent about 3 hours in our study/of...

Well this morning started off super chilly, but warmed up nicely. It was funny though, I was sitting at the kitchen table early this morning watching quite a few people running past. Our house is on the marathon route, so I guess some people are likely running the route or parts of it. I just couldn't figure out why they would run at 28 degrees when it was going to warm up to low 50's. I really would have preferred to get the run in sooner, but really wanted to wait for the temps to warm up. We were really fairly productive while waiting. Jason vacuumed the area rugs, I cleaned the kitchen, then we rearranged the living room. After all that productivity, we finally headed out for our run. The training plan called for a 10K today. I made the executive decision to ditch that plan today and go for miles not speed. The goal was 10 miles, and 10 miles we did. I really hope to be able to hit 11 next week. I need to do that mentally more than anything. For the most part, it was ...

Back to the Grind Well, it was back to the office today. We did have another two-hour delay though. The streets are mostly clear as long as they were in the sun yesterday. Where they weren't, however, they are solid ice. It's supposed to be close to 40 today though, and sunny, so it should be cleared up thankfully. We're heading into a really nice warmup for this weekend. Definitely looking forward to warmer weather, lots of sunshine, and getting to take my running outside. Fun Facts Friday - Pros/Cons of Working From Home Since I don't get to work from home often, it's a real novelty for me (kind of like the snow we had). Two days of working from home gave me some insight though on the reality of it. There are so many pros, but also some cons. So for Fun Facts Friday , I thought I'd share what I have learned from working from home this week. Pros: I can work in my yoga pants, warm house shoes, and fleece warmy. Don't have to do hair or makeup.  I...

Snow Day Again Today we had a two-hour work delay, but my boss said we could work from home if we didn't want to try to make the icy drive into the office. Jason and I both worked from home. I parked it at the kitchen table where I could have a nice view of the bright sun and crisp, white snow. The roads seemed worse earlier today than last night actually. I guess it was from being packed down, so it became icy. They did start to finally clear around noon. I got a few pictures of the neighborhood. I just couldn't resist. I guess snow is so gorgeous to me because we don't get it that often. It's definitely a novelty around here. I also love how quiet and serene everything seems, feels. I know it's because fewer people are out and about, but it's such a nice change.         Running Because of the snow, I knew my run was going to have to be a treadmill run. Jason and I hit the gym around 3:30. The plan called for 5-6 miles then 4 gentle pickups. I really was ...

Snow Day??? The snow was definitey in the forecast for today. The question was when it would start. I already told my boss I was planning on an 8-4 day so that Jason and I could just go in at the same time since we're down to the one car. At 7 am, there was no snow. But it started at about 7:20 and DID NOT stop. The last time I remember snow like this was in 2000. We got about 12 inches. It took me 3 hours to get from my office to the bottom of a very long, very steep and winding road only about 3.5 miles from work before I had to park my car and start walking. This was before we live right by our offices. I worked from my kitchen table watching the snow for about three hours before they finally, officially closed our offices. Woohoo - a real, true snow day! We get the occasional snow and ice here, but it's almost never enough to close down our offices. Even the state offices were shut down though. I was super productive long before work was officially over. I started dinn...

Crazy Weather & Running Plan Well at least today was a bright and sunny day. We've got snow in our forecast (again) tonight and all day tomorrow. They are predicting anywhere from 6-8 inches here. Seriously? I swear I live in the south. The average temps right now are supposed to be in the low 50's (I think that's around 10 ° C). Today was in the 30's (below 0 C) and tomorrow low 20's. Alison , the Celsius is for you ;-) If it hadn't been so windy out, I might have tried to take my training run outdoors. It was another long one...I swear the person who put together this half marathon training plan was on crack. Today called for 3 miles, 2x2:00 AI*, 2x2:30 AI, 1x3:00 AI, 6 pickups, 2 miles. I'm tired just typing that out. My legs muscles even twitched. Thank goodness I updated my playlist! After the intervals were done, I was right at 6.25 miles. So I just did another 1.75 miles for an even 8. This was a puke-worthy workout, and I was pooped! Wha...

Car Update As I promised, here is a picture of the wall I had to scale to get into my cube on Friday. I stood on the chair to get onto the cabinet then stepped over the wall. Thankfully there is another cabinet on the other side (see 2nd picture) that I could stand on then jump off of.   I've had so many of you ask about that status of the car. Well, it's still gone. We have to wait 3 weeks before the insurance company will give us a check for the value of the car. Of course, it could still be found between now and then. I got a nice fat envelope in the mail at lunch today with tons of paperwork to fill out for the insurance company. While I am really really trying to find some humor or even the slightest bit of positivity out of the situation, it really started to sink in yesterday afternoon. I ended up opting out of the Super Bowl party, letting Jason go alone. I wasn't going to be much fun. I'd like to just curl up and have a crying fit to be perfectly honest. I...