Where's the Beach?

Happy Friday! Don't know about you guys, but it's felt like a long week for me. Of course, we have a beach trip coming up, so I'm already halfway in vacation mode ;-) I don't really have a nice segue into today's post. So ... Marcia at Marcia's Healthy Slice did a fun post the other day - Loving/Not Loving . It seems to be perfectly fitting for a Fun for Friday post. Don't you just love inspiration from fellow bloggers? So here it goes: I was soaked as if I had gone swimming. I need gills. Loving:  Warmer weather. It finally feels like spring. Not Loving:  The humidity and the warmer temps for running. Loving:  My recent morning runs and watching the sun come up. Not Loving:  No one to share the moment with. Loving: Grilling out. Not Loving: Mosquito bites. What are some of the things your Loving and Not Loving lately?

I don't know about you, but when it's hot out, I tend to crave more watery fruit like pineapple. We've also been grilling most days, especially while we were painting the kitchen cabinets. Since I just happened to have a pineapple on hand, I decided to come up with a way to grill it. At first I had thought about sandwiches, but I ended up going with a quinoa salad instead using tempeh and veggies. I wanted to try to infuse more of the pineapple flavor in the tempeh while it poached, so I also made a puree of the pineapple. Grilled Pineapple Tempeh Quinoa Salad Ingredients: 1 pineapple 1 package tempeh - cut in half then lengthwise for 4 pieces 1 not-beef bouillon cube 2 cups water (or broth and minus the bouillon) 2 tbsp minced garlic 1-2 jalapenos, seeded if you prefer less heat Small nub of fresh ginger 2 bell peppers (I used green and yellow) 1 large zucchini, cut into thick strips 1/2 cup quinoa (I used red) 2 cups water Directions: Turn on your grill...

I know that on Wednesday I said I'd be doing a follow-up post where I take you on a run with me. But, I haven't had a chance to get photos yet, and I think that's an important part of that post. I really want to share a route with you. In the meantime, I thought I would do a light-hearted, Fun For Friday post of 5 things for the week. 1. Painting kitchen cabinets Notice the streaks after 2 coats. Supposed to have covered in 2 coats. Yep, not working out as planned. I had hoped to do some fantastic post about this product that we used. Now? Um....no way. 2. Grilling Since the kitchen is in complete disarray, dinners pretty much have to be on the grill or microwaved. So we've had grilled veggie salads and sandwiches. Jason picked up some wood planks he found on sale and let me tell you, grilling tofu on a plank = yummy. 3. Humid Running As I discussed on Tuesday , humidity throws a wrench into running. Thankfully, we have a "cool" front moving...

Just a little bit of recapping before heading into my Tasty Tuesday recipe for Grilled Peaches, Beets and Tofu Salad . Mostly running, biking, grilling, and lots of time with sister and friend. I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did. And it went by way too fast (of course). Saturday I got in a run, we ran several errands, then I spent some time in the pool being lazy. I should have been more productive, but I wasn't. And that's perfectly ok.  Sunday morning Jason and I went for a 20-mile bike ride. My sister came up and we helped my friend organize and hang pictures at her new apartment. Then we all went for a really late lunch.  The day ended with Amy stopping by for dinner - I grilled a huge tempeh and veggie salad for the girls. Luckily the temperatures weren't too miserable, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the food and the evening…and of course the great conversation and laughs.  Monday I used as a rest day, sort of. My sister has b...

This morning Jason got up early with me for a morning rundate. I knew it was going to be warm, but when I actually checked the weather I was really shocked: 77 degrees, 85% humidity and dew point of 72 at 5:30 am. Yowzers. We got moving and kept the pace relatively slow and steady. There was virtually no breeze to speak of. Usually running in the wind can be miserable, but sometimes having a breeze can be a blessing to help cool you down. No such luck. At least the sun wasn't high in the sky though. There were some sprinklers on near a park we run through. The water was warm so that didn't help out one bit. The pond started looking pretty inviting I must say. By the time we hit the house, 6 miles later, it looked like we had gone swimming. It's about time to keep a bathing suit downstairs so I can change into then jump into the pool to cool down (note for Friday's run). It was definitely not an easy peasy run. But, keeping a much slower pace made it more manageabl...

Rainy Run & Cross-Training  We didn't really have much going on this weekend. No complaints about that really. I woke up Saturday morning ready to run. The weather, however, was not in my favor. It was storming. I kept watching the radar like an obsessed fool trying to figure out when it'd pass. Finally, around 9:45 the storms were gone and the rain had mostly turned into light sprinkles. I asked Jason if he wanted to go with me. He balked at the idea. Whined that it was raining. But in the end, he headed out with me. The sprinkles turned into a light rain, but it felt amazing. Very refreshing I must say. My plan was 6 miles and I told him we could loop near the house so he could drop off sooner. He didn't of course. I think the rain added some pep in my step. We had some really great splits (mile 3 was 8:38, mile for was 8:38). Mile 5 was a little slower (I think it was 8:50) and that was a part of the run where we had to run in some grass and hop over some miss...

Two on Tuesday Apparently I actually slept more soundly last night than I realized. It stormed and I had no idea. So I didn't think to check to see if it was raining when I woke up around 4:40. I made myself roll back over and doze because I had the alarm set for 5:20 so we could get up and run. The alarm finally went off and we groggily got out of bed. That's when I heard the sound of rain. But I looked out and it didn't look like it was coming down hard. So I prepared myself for a wet run. I was happy thinking I wouldn't be hot! I walked out of the bathroom and Jason was back in bed (with running clothes on). He asked if I knew it was raining. Yep. Get up. Get movin'. By the time we actually walked out the door, it wasn't even misting. Just wet ground and humid air. Though, the clouds looked pretty ominous off in the distance. We managed 4.5 miles without getting rained on. It was a pretty decent run for me. No runner's high or anything, but not h...

Orange Inspired Last night, Jason ended up making up an Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad . I pretty much just sat back and watched. We had several oranges on hand that were going bad quickly. He had been talking about making an orange vinaigrette, so I let him just go with it. Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad Ingredients  Roasted veggies 1 bunch broccoli, chopped 1/3 yellow onion, chopped 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped (red would be more colorful) 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained Orange segments 1/4 cup raisins  To taste: salt, pepper, red pepper, dried thyme, dried ginger Orange vinaigrette Zest of one orange 2/3 cup (or a little less) of freshly squeezed oranges Splash of red wine vinegar Agave, to taste To taste: salt, pepper, powdered garlic, red pepper flakes, dried thyme, fresh basil, dried ginger Olive oil, enough for desired consistency of a loose vinaigrette Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add ...

Rambling & Lifting  Since I ran the past 2 days, I figured it'd be smart to hit the gym today and not test the running gods. Though, my heel and piriformis feel surprisingly good today. Of course, had I run, that might have changed. In fact, my legs don't feel at all like I ran 10 miles yesterday. That got me to thinking about when I first started adding up the miles. My recovery was so much harder. Even after 7 or 8 miles I remember feeling pukey, my legs shaky and exhausted, muscles already getting sore. I figured out my fueling so that took care of the pukey feeling. I also figured out how to better stretch and roll out my muscles post-run, so that now, I can still move the rest of the day and the day after. It's a great feeling honestly - to know that my body is so capable now. That I'm comfortable in the miles (well, for the most part). I think I coming back from injuries makes the miles somehow more special too. If that makes sense. I know some people q...

Morning Run This morning Jason and I got up early to get in our run for the day. He had meetings most of the morning, and the forecast was for just shy of 90 degrees. So begins the transition to early morning runs to beat the heat. Honestly, I love running early. But, I am not a morning person and hate actually getting up. But, once I get out there and get moving, it really sets the tone for the day. It's always so peaceful before the sun is up. The world is simply quieter, still. I settled into a good pace right away. Love it when that happens. We were mostly silent, but chatted in spurts here and there. We passed just a couple of people out walking, they seemed surprised to see us. The goal was an easy 4 miles, but we ended up doing 5 miles. I guess that's indicative of how well the run went. Insecurities  I did want to re-visit yesterday's post . Not because I want everyone to see the picture again, but after posting and seeing comments it made me realize just ...

Leg Day Originally I had planned on getting in a run today. But the weather had other plans. It wasn't raining, but the winds are a breezy 35 mph. Um, I love running, but I do NOT love fighting the wind. So, I took the "easy" route and hit the gym for legs. Yes, easy route haha. I started with the elliptical to warmup and low and behold, the short tights guy was there again today on the rowing machine next to me. Thankfully his shorts were longer today ;-) I went with giants sets of 4 sets of 8 reps unless noted. GS#1 Barbell squats Barlbell plie squats Hamstring roll-ins on ball - 12 GS#2 Single-leg squat Calf raises - 15 (2 sets with toes straight ahead and 2 sets with toes turned out) Curtsey lunges w/ dumbbells I definitely should have gone heavier for barbell squats. Right now I'm not really feeling it at all. But we'll see tomorrow. I really need to come up with a solid leg workout to help with all of my crazy imbalances, but also one that...

Speed Work We had another cool and mostly cloudy day. It was supposed to be sunny and upper 70's. But it was only about 65 and overcast when we set out for a run at 11:45. We decided to actually, willingly do speed work. I haven't done any real speed work/drills since probably January. We've done a few tempo runs, but those were mostly unplanned. We warmed up for a mile while heading to our destination. Since we weren't on a track with marked distance (ran on a park lawn), we measured distance by our strides. Jason had this workout from years ago - it's similar to striders or gentle pickups. You start off easy then gradually increase speed to about 90% of max effort. Most suggest ranges of like 80 meters (just one example). Then a brief rest before repeating. We counted our strides for right foot strike. Jason was counting 20 (so 40 steps total) and I chose 25 because 20 didn't seem to get my little legs very far ;-) We repeated 12 times total then ran an...

Weekend Recap  I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was good. Not quite as planned, but still good. I decided to pretty much log off most of the weekend, so no blog postings. I didn't really have anything super exciting to post. Not that it was a bad weekend mind you. Saturday Jason and I got in a good 8-mile run. It was insanely humid so the wind was actually a welcome thing for a change. For the most part, no pain. My piriformis started to get pretty tight towards the end of the run, but I made sure to stretch, roll, stretch and ice (foot as well). I am so happy that running is back to being enjoyable. My first few runs after my hiatus were simply awful. I honestly thought I'd never enjoy running, never want to go back out there again. Sunday I hit the gym rather than the pavement. I really wanted to run again, but Jason's feet were feeling tight. It was gusting winds too, so I think the gym was the right choice. I did biceps and triceps as supersets of 3x8 (un...

A New Route Another cooler, but sunny day for us. This morning it was 48 degrees, a far cry from our lows of 60. When Jason and I set out for our lunchtime run, I had on a short sleeved top and shorts. I had to talk myself out of capris or sleeves because I knew I'd warm up. It was right at 60 with a cool breeze, but lots of sunshine. The minute we started moving I mentioned that I was cold. Jason agreed. I had mapped out a different route, well, part of it I mapped. Just wanted some different scenery. For the most part, it was a pretty good route. Some gradual inclines, but definitely new views. I should have mapped the whole thing though. I had planned to head straight down one street and take a right onto 23rd. I saw 22nd then realized there was a 23rd on the left, but not the right. Ok, so we get to 24th and take a right but it dead ended so we had to take the next right and I thought we'd just take a left at 23rd....still no 23rd. So we were forced to hit 22nd. Oh 22n...

Giant Sets Our weather this week has definitely returned back to more normal-spring-like temps. Today was just downright cold after almost 90 degrees last week. We struggled to hit 60 and it was gray and dreary. Good thing my workout plan was to hit the gym. I started with a warmup on the elliptical then did giant sets for back and shoulders. I did 8 reps for each exercise and 3 sets for each giant set. GS - Back Assisted chinups Double-arm row Pullovers GS - Shoulders Overhead press Lateral raise Front raise Giant sets go by super fast, but they are no joke. I had to go down in weight for my lateral raises because my muscles were just too fatigued. Love tossing these in once in a while. Grilling Experiment We had some bok choy that needed to be used. Of course I could have gone the easy route and made up a simple stir fry. But we've really been wanting to try grilling it. Luckily, the sun did finally come out at the end of the day so it made it feel more like gri...

New Piriformis Exercises Today wasn't too terrible for a Monday. Of course, I did leave a little early. That always helps huh ;-) I had another round of physical therapy today. My PT has been really researching piriformis syndrome and found an interesting article that discusses the use of McKenzie Exercises - typically used for back pain. I have started adding in low back extensions (one of the exercises) but now have a whole new list of exercises to add into my workout rotations. But, if it helps, I'll do it. I also asked her about dry needling (thanks Sarena ), which is sort of similar to acupuncture, but is more about trigger point and intramuscular stimulation. And I'm glad I asked because the timing is uncanny. One of the doctor's in the clinic happens to be going to get certified this weekend. They both believe that I am a prime candidate for the procedure. So we'll see how that goes. Kind of scared because I hate hate hate needles. Have any of you tr...

Grilling Let me just say that I have discovered a new favorite grilled vegetable - kale. Yep, grilled kale is amazing. Just de-stem, rough chop, toss with small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper and grill in a veggie grilling basket. You will get some pieces that are nice and crisp like kale chips, and others that are soft and so full of flavor. Such a fantastic combination of textures and flavors. So this brings me to last night's dinner - Grilled Kale and Veggie Pasta Salad . Jason actually did the grilling last night, which was a nice treat. He grilled the kale, squash, zucchini, red onion, red and green bell peppers. In the meantime, I cooked some whole-wheat rotini. After the veggies were done, he chopped them up and everything was tossed into a large bowl along with some cherry tomatoes. Jason made a simple Dijon balsamic dressing and poured that over the veggies and pasta, mixed well and served. This was a fantastic spring dish. There are so many options for veg...

3-Mile Run I won't brag too much about our weather as I know that some of you are actually experiencing real spring, as in it's gotten cold, or rainy, or cold and rainy again. But it was another beautiful day here. Though, I will admit that 80+ degrees in March does feel a bit wrong. I keep waiting for some freak snow storm now. But, in the meantime, I'll take full advantage of the weather. I won't even complain that it was sweltering for a run at lunch today. I won't have any problem adjusting to running in summer heat at this rate. I'm pretty much already doing it. We set out around 11:30 for a quick 3-miler. The first thing we were hit with was a wonderful headwind for the first 3/4 mile, which also happens to be a nice long, steady, sneaky incline. Let's just say I wasn't a Chatty Cathy today. For the most part (other than standing at street corners waiting on cars that took forever to move along) we kept around an 8:30-8:40 pace. There was a ...

Running  These dark, cold mornings sure make getting out of bed on Monday morning even more difficult than it already is. It was a very chilly 47 degrees for us this morning. Of course, it warmed up into the lower 80's. So hard to dress for such crazy temperature swings isn't it? Anyway, the one good thing about it being cooler throughout the morning is that I was able to get in a run at lunch and it was still in the lower 70's. Another gorgeous day here, no clouds, crystal blue skies. The kind of day that makes getting outside for a run (or walk or ride) a must. Technically my half marathon training schedule this week called for 3 miles today, 2 miles tomorrow then a 6-mile tempo on Wednesday. I decided to combine today and tomorrow's runs for a 5-miler today. I know that this plan was put together by the pros, but quite frankly it's just annoying to get all ready for just 2 miles. Not that there's anything wrong if that's all you run, but for me, just...

To Enjoy List Follow Up I am loving your comments about the To Enjoy List ! I am going to try to remember to do a follow up next week to see where you guys are at on your lists. I did knock off one thing from my list already - enjoy gardening. After dinner, I got outside and let the rose bushes attack me...I mean, I tried to trim them up ;-) Scratches or not, it was nice to be out there doing that sort of thing. It was hot, but it was better than sitting and watching TV or being glued to the computer. Tonight I am adding "enjoy grilling out" to my list.  Were you able to knock anything off your To Enjoy List ? Teaching Spin Today I had planned to knock off another to-enjoy item - workout with my friend. We were going to meet for spin after work, but she's getting ready to go out of town and wasn't able to meet after all. So, I decided to go during lunch and just stay later at work. I was in for a surprise. I walked in and the first thing I was asked was, ...