Where's the Beach?

Sports Bar Eats Last night we ended up watching Going the Distance and just relaxing on the couch. We weren't terribly hungry, as in no need to make a full dinner. But we both knew we needed something small at least. I had pulled some tofu out of the freezer to thaw because I thought we were going to have sushi. Anyway, halfway through the movie I decided I needed to make Tofu "wings." This is one reason I don't like going to the theater - I can't just get up and head into the kitchen and pause the movie. I don't sit still for long periods very well. Back to the "wings"...I have never had hot wings. I have no clue what they are supposed to even taste like. However, I'm oddly intrigued by them. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've asked Jason about the sauce and how they are made. Again, I have no idea where this bizarre obsession comes from. Well, last night I decided that I finally had to try making my own Tofu "Wings....

Running not Punching This will be a quick post for me. Today turned out quite differently than I had planned. I thought the weather was supposed to be warmer and nice tomorrow, so I had it in my head that I was going to do a boxing or kickboxing workout rather than the 4-mile run my training plan had me scheduled for. I figured I could use some boxing to get out some of the aggression after the day I had yesterday . I checked the weather and learned that the forecast had changed (go figure). Today was sunny and tomorrow is now supposed to be cloudy with chance of wintry mix. So, long run today. I was really not planning on running at all, so I had to totally change my mental focus. Oh, and convince Jason to go out for a run too. I was planning on 10 tomorrow, but decided I'd just go for 9 today since it was not really the plan anyway. It was about 30 degrees when we headed out, but I was quickly too warm and peeling off layers. It was sunny, with not a single cloud. There was ...

Fun Friday? Rest day at last. I am definitely enjoying the day of rest. However, my morning certainly made me think twice about throwing in a boxing or kickboxing DVD. I went out to start my car to let it warm up at about 6:30. Heath was finishing eating and Maddie was outside going potty (she inhales her food in seconds). I hear gears grinding and tires squealing, so I rushed to the back door already knowing what to expect - my car had been stolen. Yep, gone. Thankfully there was nothing of any value in there. It's a convertible, so I never keep anything in there that would tempt someone to try to break in. I called the cops and all that fun stuff. Oh, something of value....my keys. To the house, pass to the gym, AND keys to get into my office are now gone. So how does the morning get better? I have to climb the wall to get into my office - it's sort of a cubicle, but the "walls" are higher than most cubes, but they don't go to the ceiling. Thankfully no one...

7 Miles Down Wow, we may not have snow here, but we sure have the arctic blast. Yet again, it was a balmy 6 degree windchill on my walk into work. That just hurts. I was coming up with all sort of plans on how to make today a rest day, get in the run tomorrow instead, which had originally been forecast as sunny and 39 degrees. They went and changed the forecast on me. Humph. Tomorrow we actually now have a chance of some snow (nothing major mind you). So, back to today and running. It ended up being a dreadmill run. I was really dreading the run all day to be honest. I started wishing that I had packed my cold-weather running duds when I saw the temps rise up to 24 degrees. Clearly I have lost my freaking mind at this point. The half marathon training plan called for the same as last Thursday: 5-6 miles, 4 x 1:30 hill intervals, 6 gentle pickups. Considering I struggle with 3 steady-state miles on the treadmill, I knew that I was going to have to just do what I could, even if tha...

Weights on Wednesday I came pretty close to making today a rest day. But I really wanted to get in some weights and abs today and rest completely on Friday. I figured I could do trisets for biceps, shoulders, triceps and top it off with some ab work and it really wouldn't take too long to complete (and it'd give me some energy that I seem to be lacking). I did each as 3 sets of 8 reps. TS#1 Dumbbell curls Dumbbell shoulder press Overhead triceps extension TS#2 Hammer curls Upright rows Lying triceps extensions TS#3 Cross-body curls Lateral raises Double-arm kickbacks I did abs from Cathe's High Reps DVD , stretched for a few minutes, then called it done. I won't say this turned into a super awesome workout. My mind was wandering a bit. But I did feel fairly strong though and actually increased weights on the third triset. This also gave me a bit of an energy boost, always a plus. Tomorrow I have a longish run scheduled that I hope to get up the gumpt...

Bad Weather = Dreadmill  (warning, bitching and moaning ahead) This morning was a tough one in regards to getting out of bed. Normally I am up before the alarm ever goes off. This morning I woke up just before 6 am and thought I'd just doze for a few minutes. I apparently fell right on back to sleep and was startled awake 20 minutes later by the alarm. I was so confused and disoriented. Apparently I was in desperate need of sleep. I should mention that I was in be on my way to dreamland by 8:45 last night and only woke up once around 3am. It was a super nasty, dark, pouring down rain morning. Even with rain boots and rain coat, my legs were soaked when I got into the office. Luckily (or maybe not as we didn't get out of work for it) we missed the major snow/ice the north part of the state was pummeled with. But the temps steadily dropped and the winds steadily grew stronger. Um hello 35 mph gusts. So even though the rain cleared out around noon-ish, a run outside just wasn...

Lifting on Blah Monday Today I definitely had a case of the Monday Blahs. It didn't help that the skies were heavy and gray today. Tomorrow it's supposed to storm and then get down into the teens. So much for early spring huh? I had actually contemplated trying to do tomorrow's training run today just so I could get it done outside. But I had to be realistic, I had a long run Saturday and another 4 miles yesterday. I needed to do something other than run today. So, I hit the gym for some upper body weights and a short stint on the elliptical. I did 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up then I went with back and chest, then abs Assisted pullups - 10 Pushups - 24 TS#1 - 3x8 Underhand barbell rows Flat bench flyes Flat bench dumbbell press Assisted chinups - 10 Pushups with feet on bench - 16 TS#2 Single-arm rows Incline bench flyes Incline bench dumbbell press SS#1 Pullovers Staggered chest press I did a variety of ab work including some stabilit...