Spending the Weekend in the Woods.

What a packed weekend, per the usual. I wouldn't have it any other way!

After doing a whole bunch of nothing on Friday night except becoming addicted to Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, Kaitlyn and I had a lot of things to do Saturday.  I can't think of a better way to start the day than with something pumpkin.

Whole Wheat French Toast topped with Pumpkin Puree, Blueberries and Homemade Granola.

After breakfast we got dressed in our best and headed to church for my niece and nephews baptism.

This is one of her nephews. I cannot believe how much alike they look. So beautiful.

 Afterwards, my dad took Kaitlyn so Becca and I could head out for a run. We went to Burke Lake Park. It is a perfect 4.7 mile loop in the woods, around Burke Lake.. We did 6 awesome exhilarating miles. I think I could have gone forever. Runner's High, achieved.

To refuel I made us the trendy "Green Smoothie".

I felt totally accomplished until Becca told me I had "green monster" on my snaggle tooth while at a birthday party. My boyfriend is ooooone lucky guy.

I swear I'm happy. I have this thing against smiling in pictures.

We spent the rest of the day at the party and rounded the night off with some more Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. So awesome to see people gain control of their lives. Even Kaitlyn is hooked.

Sunday morning I got up early and we headed out to Great Falls Park for some hiking.

Some seriously great views.

Gotta love quality mother-daughter time:-)

Not sure what's up with her facial expression.

There were actually a TON of different trails. They were rocky and hilly enough to get a decent workout in, but still easy enough for Kaitlyn. She is a trooper though and shows many adults up when it comes to hiking.

To bad it ended like this. We got POURED on. We held out for another hour or so but we were so cold (why is it only 68 degrees in August?!) that we finally decided to turn back.

We'll be back to finish up the rest of them though. Only 45 minutes away and a beautiful day trip.

Quality Junk Food. No Fancy Stores Needed.

I woke up about 5x last night. Not sure if my back was the cause but it felt more and more sore every time my eyes opened. I think it may have been the million push-ups I did this week. I'm no doctor, but I feel like it's a fair guess.
For this reason, and because of motherly obligations (Kaitlyn had a doctor's appointment) today was a rest day. Seeing as though I feel like I haven't had one in two weeks and I have an active weekend planned, I'm going to say it was a good idea.

**On a side note, I have problems taking rest days. Like doing nothing at all. No yoga. No swimming. Nothing.  It drives me crazy! At least I got a bit of walking in during/after work. I digress.**

Another thing about today was different. I was starving!! I am usually a pretty hungry girl, but a snack every few hours keeps me going. Today, when I finished eating, I was still hungry. every.single.time.

Since I have no workout to talk about I'll show you what I had:-)

Yummy egg sandwich. Wondering what's on it??.....

Apple Jalapeno Jelly! I scored this awesome jelly in New Jersey last week. It's a tad sweet with a little bite to it. If you know me at all, you know I love anything spicy!!

Since I have this meal around 4:45, I am ready to eat again around 8:30. I have the same thing everyday at this time. Chobani plain yogurt. I top it with different things. This weeks obsession. Pureed pumpkin with a ton of cinnamon and a sprinkle of cereal or granola. Unfortunately, no phones at work so no pictures of the goodness that is such a delicious combination.

Lunch was just leftover dinner. Nothing exciting.

Kaitlyn and I had to go to Target this afternoon. Nothing good happens there. I felt like we were there FOREVER and spent a ton of money. This is expected when I step into that red palace though.

I scored a couple good things though and it composed my random, effortless dinner.

Archer Farms Organic Blue Corn Chips with Flax and Hot Caribbean Salsa with Mango, Peach and Passion Fruit.

Along with a can of Albacore Tuna (topped with Spicy Brown Mustard) and Utz Organic Whole Grain Pretzels with a side of Supremely Spicy Hummus.

I'm actually quite impressed with some of the finds at Target. They have some pretty sweet options. I always look at the ingredients when I buy something and these two items had WAY less and they seemed to be pretty preservative, weird ingredient/chemicals free.

If you're going to eat junk food, make it quality junk food:-)

Plus, when you can buy it at Target, not a Trader Joes or Whole Foods or anything expensive or fancy, why not??

A 6 Year Old Showed Me Up

Thursday. This means today's Group Fitness Class was Ultimate Circuit. Usually, I'm pumped for this class. Today, I felt tired. Not just tired, but an overall sore, "I don't want to do shit that involves moving" kind of tired. This being said, I knew that I usually am tired but go to class and bring it and the energy instantly comes.

Today this was not the case.

First of all, I know I have talked about this class before but it is hard. Like only a few people come back, I'm am the only girl in the class hard. We do it all. Sprinting, jumping jacks, high knees, butt kicks, planks, push ups, chest press, flys, tricep press, stairs, burpees, core work......For example. This was part of the warm-up. One jumping jack. One burpee, two jumping jacks, two burpees, three jumping jacks, etc. This continued until ten then we went back down. That was less then half the work out. Serious business.

I pushed through but it only made me even more tired. When I fall asleep tonight I don't think a tornado could wake me up.

We'll see if I can force a rest day upon myself tomorrow. Depends on how I am feeling.

After work we came home and this is the first thing I saw when I put my bags down.

This girl is addicted to the pull up bar. Please don't think I am a crazy "you're going to workout when your six" type mom. She won't let me put it away. Every time I go down the hallway there is a chair from our dining room table in my doorway. Better her than me. I can only do one, and this is just recently.

While GI Jane pumped out the pull-ups, I made us an early dinner. (Who am I kidding, we always eat early. Gotta eat by 5:30 to make our 8:00 bedtime lol)

My mom sent me home with some adzuki beans. I cooked those up (seasoned with garlic, cumin, pepper and a hint of cayenne), cooked some chicken with garlic and onion and some fresh green beans. Once the green beans were boiled I threw them in the pan with the chicken, garlic and onion to crisp the outside a bit.

Smothered in Cholula of course!

Shaking the Boredom: Fartleks!

This week has been awesome workout wise!

Monday I took Chiseled Physique. The instructor really switched it out by breaking out the stability balls and free weights. I am the LEAST balanced person out there. Wow. I hope we get to do that more often!

Monday is a running day. Heat doesn't usually get to me. In fact, I usually love it because I am so cold all the time. Monday afternoon I found myself grouchy and decided to go across the street to the gym and get on a treadmill. I did 4 miles and while I felt good, I found myself mentally not in the game. I feel as though my "mental stamina" is more gone than my physical stamina since I was forced to take that 3 month break. Has anybody else experienced this??

Tuesday I did 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical then went to a 45 minute Yoga class. Just when I thought I was doing pretty well, she says "go to eagle pose"....A what??

                                                        


Needless to say this is NOT a picture of me. I could do no such move! It is a lot harder to put your hands together like that then you'd think. My shoulders weren't having it....and my balance, well we already know about that! Oh well, just something to work towards!

Wednesday class = Spinning!! Love it!! I felt completely drained and tired and in one of those "I don't see this happening" moods. I went and the mood changed the second I got there. I really pushed myself and sweat more than I have in any spin class. To top it off, Wednesday is a running day, so I headed to the track after work. (A certain little girl was supposed to join me but decided she wanted to play with her cousins, so I went solo.) This was my best running workout since getting back in the game. First I did 1.5 miles around the track. SO BORING. So then I took it off road. I ran around all the fields a couple of times (Nothing like a bit of running on grass to make you appreciate a nice, smooth track), around the school and the parking lots and back to the track. Another 1.5 miles. To finish it off I decided to play with a bit of light speed work. I did another 2 miles, this time picking up the pace on the straight aways on the track. It felt awesome and was what I really needed to shake the boredom I felt during the first part of my run.

By the end of it all, I was exhausted.

I went to go pick up Kaitlyn afterwards and my mom had made dinner. SCORE! Brown rice with chicken and lentils! Just the wholesome, delicious meal I needed after an intense double-workout day.

Around 8:30 I passed out while Kaitlyn was reading me her book for the night.......slept like a baby:-)

Does anybody elses children put THEM to bed while they're reading??

Weekend Fun in Jersey

Friday was a quick day at work. I got a Chiseled Physique class in, then had this lovely treat waiting for me when I got back to my desk. (Courtesy of my coworker who went to Truckeroo.)

It is a salad from The Hula Girl Food Truck , it had greens, shredded napa cabbage, cucumber, edamame, green onions, macadamia nuts, pickled carrots & daikon with ginger-soy dressing

I wish it had a bit more of the vegetables besides the greens, but it was packed with chicken and the dressing was amazing.

I got to leave work early and get a 3.5 mile run in. It was dreadfully hot and miserable.  This weekend I was headed to New Jersey for to visit my best friend, Shelly who just got back (she is amazingly awesome and is in the Coast Guard) One of my other best friends, Ryan, and my daughter Kaitlyn accompanied me.

We got hungry (of course) and found ourselves in "Greek Town" in the outskirts of Baltimore. Chicken gyro and spinach pies.....it was mediocre. Tons of chicken though. 

We arrived late Friday night and started our fun on Saturday.  I got up and headed out for a run. Shelly ran with me and Kaitlyn biked. They decided to stop after a mile (Kaitlyn was tired and Shelly's dog was not cooperating). I ventured out further and had the best run I've probably had since I started running again. I didn't measure it but it was about 40 minutes in total. I did an out and in and on the way back I really hit a nice, comfortable stride:-)

Then we headed out to check out a butterfly exhibit. Kind of lame because it was so small....

One of my favorite pictures of us two to date!

We hit up a bunch of other shops afterwards. All of the shops were really small and quaint. I loved the Cheese Store. Now usually I am not a huge cheese fan but they had a Pumpkin Cream Cheese Ball that was AMAZING! I was THAT girl who took a ton of samples! Feeling badly, I bought a jar of Basil Pesto Mustard.....it was interesting. I also got a jar of Apple Jalapeno Jam from a jam store. Paired with an egg sandwich, it was awesome! We then headed to downtown Cape May for more shopping and home for a BBQ!

Sunday morning we all jumped in the car and rode out to Gun Powder State Park in Maryland for some fun hiking.

This girl rocked it!!

All-in-all a great weekend with great people! I really needed this little getaway!

Circuit Training Thursday!

Thursday's workout was one of my new favorites. Ultimate Circuit. I can honestly say that I haven't been out of breath like that for a long time. The class lasted an hour. The warm up was a bunch of high knees, butt kicks, backward lunges and squats. (Have you ever tried a reverse squat?? Start as low as you can and only go half way up then back down. Holy Crap.)

The circuits were each 2 minutes each and included:

1. Push-ups and Planks

2. Sit-ups and Oblique Twists with weights

3. Sprinting up and down the stairs

4. Sprinting and jogging across the workout room

5. Power squats

6. Pushing a sled (The instructor gets a step, like you would use in an aerobics class, and puts towels on the bottom. You start with 20 lbs on top and have to push it across the room and back, adding 10 lbs each time you get back. It is so low it turns into a sprint in a "mountain climber" position WITH weights. Terrible hard in an oh-so-awesome way)

7. Shoulder presses with a 24 lb body bar

8. Even more power squats:-)

I think that I am forgetting something. The instructor changes it up each class. Last week we did some work with resistance bands, which are a great workout.

After lunch I had to continue my current obsession with hummus. Multigrain bread from the farmer's market, with roasted red pepper hummus, cucumber, tomato and some leftover roasted squash from last night. Delicious.

That is a hell of a big sandwich:-)

Work was kind of slow yesterday because the bosses are out. My company was having an ice cream social down the street. This wasn't the cheap 5 gallon tub of ice cream from Costco either. It was catered by a company called Paradise Ice Cream and it was homemade! Maybe the best strawberry ice cream I have ever consumed.

Not in a hurry to get back to my freezing cold office, and in efforts to walk off a bit of that delicious ice cream, I took a walk around our beautiful nation’s capital.

Check out the kids playing in the fountain. At first I was a little “uhhh that’s gross please get your children out of the water. I’m sure you have a hose at home…

But it turns out I’m a tad bit judgmental because I walked a bit further and saw that there is a

water park there! (Well, mostly a large fountain/water fall thing labeled “Water Park”) FULL of people. How did I not know we had this a quarter mile from my work? I really need to get out more.

Last night was a no-run night. It was probably for the best because the little girl and I had a lot to do. We are leaving for New Jersey this weekend and had some laundry, packing, cleaning and baking to do! Every time I go see my best friend I have to bring carrot cake. She LOVES my carrot cakes. It’s kind of unspoken at this point. If I don’t have it with me, don’t bother coming. Haha. Just kidding…Sort of….

Plenty extra so I brought this dozen into work today. I’m rallying for most-liked person in the office….J

Finding the Balance

Monday's Chiseled Physique class was awesome. We had a new instructor.
She switched it up and I really loved it. Lots and lots of squats with
pressing, lunges with curling, core, etc. I am LOVING the
multi-tasking and the extra "umph" I put in that I just can't seem to
get myself to do alone.

After work and picking up Kaitlyn, we hit up the track. It's a nice
3/4 of a mile walk there (perfect for a brisk walk to warm up). Once
we arrived I starting doing circles while Kaitlyn did a little biking
on the hills, a little exploring and a little relaxing. I completed 3
hot, sweaty miles. I'm not going to lie. They were not easy....but
only on a mental note. The track can realllllly suck sometimes. You go
around and around and around, counting up or down, looking at the same
old shit you saw the last quarter mile. It was my only choice though,
and I am so thankful to actually be able to, so I ran it.

I'm also a liar because I told myself to stay at 2 miles for a week
then implement the 10% rule, only running ever other
day......hmmm....at least I didn't go TOO crazy and I am only running
every other day. ( Which means tonight is a go!!)

Tuesday I found myself stiff and sore. My left calf and my hips. So
what's a girl to do....but some yoga! Although I have only taken the
Yoga class at my work twice I am really loving it. (I could feel a
difference in my practice just in a week). I walked out of there
feeling great. Yes, I tipped and I lost my balance and I let the
thoughts in my head take over on occasion...but it's all about
personal progress.

I decided that I wouldn't be doing any workout Tuesday night. In the
past four days I have biked almost 40 miles, done 90 minutes of Yoga,
done 90 minutes of weight lifting, ran 5 miles (it's crazy how awesome
the number "5" even sounds) and walked a decent amount.
So what did I do with myself last night? Well my sister came over.
With Corona. and pretzels. and pizza. and guacamole. So that's what we did....While watching the first Sex and the City Movie..... Since I'm
not working out, I'm over-indulging? Balance needs to be found, but
it's not easy. Especially when you are struggling with things in your
personal life. If I get stressed out  I either want to run or want a
beer. Or both. (Although hopefully I get the run in before I get to
the beer. lol)

It's not like I have a drinking problem, but why must I do this? I
think that this sort of thing is particularly common. Especially in
athletes. Do you experience this?

On a non-rambling note, today's spin class was awesome. The instructor really pushes us and has us to an upper body workout while riding, which I love. When  I got home I headed out for a run. Not timed or measured, just ran. Turns out I did 4.44, a little more than I wanted to but I felt great.

A double workout day calls for a substantial, healthy dinner..

I Can Run Again!!

This weekend was pretty eventful.

Friday I got to leave work early for...dun dun dun....the follow-up on
my broken foot. More x-rays (hello medical bills....) I went in there
expecting for the same diagnosis as before. No running. Boy was I
surprised when said "you can go for it!". I was cheesing SO hard that
even he started laughing! I was already half way out the door when he
said "do you have any questions?", "No, I'm going to run".......:-D

Saturday morning I laced up. (Finally got to use the new pair of
Brooks I purchased in May!). It was almost 90 degrees out but it
didn't phase me. The sweat pouring down my face was welcome! I only
did 2 un-timed miles but they were AMAZING. After I returned, feeling
like I needed more, I hopped on the bike and cranked out 18 miles.
What a phenomenal way to start my day!

The rest of the day consisted of back-to-school shopping for a certain
little girl....

Look who lost ANOTHER tooth. Thats 4 missing on the top.

The day ended perfect, watching Spanglish and sharing a bowl of some awesome Sea Salt Popcorn.

Sunday morning, as much as I wanted to, I did not run. I have decided
that I will only be running every other day for the time being. I will
be implementing the 10% rule and I will LISTEN TO MY BODY. (Please,
please let me listen to my body). I opted to sleep in with Kaitlyn, go
to the Farmer's Market, run a few errands, do a 30 minute yoga
session, clean and bake my ass off.

 By the time 4:00 rolled around I was itching to do something more. I
took advantage of Kaitlyn being at the pool and went for another long
bike ride. 17.25 miles. I came home just at the start of storm. The
sky got dark and the wind reallllly picked up. It was pretty awesome.
Refueled with the best curry I have ever made. Apples, onion,
jalopeno. yellow pepper, garlic, curry powder, pepper and apple
chicken sausage. Topped with a dollop of Chobani. It was boss.

Today brings a Chiseled Physique class (aka: body pump) then another
short run tonight. Kaitlyn will ride her bike next to me, so that
makes it all the better.

PS - You KNOW I already have a training schedule set in place for
bringing myself back to where I was with running. It will be a slow,
steady August but September....it's going to rock.

Me and Machinery don't mix....

What a crazy week it has been. I have been pretty absent at work, so my new "group fitness" fix was put on hold. I did, however, get some biking in....

Last Sunday we had a family brunch at my place. My sister put together quite the spread...

It was my first time ever having a fried egg. I don't usually do yolks. They freak me out...but I felt like putting it on top of black beans, homemade salsa and avocado. It couldn't be be bad. I was
right:-)
After the meal, I felt like a workout was in order. I broke out the nice little Trek bike that my coworker is so graciously lending me and headed out.

About 10 miles into my ride things started to feel a little bit off. Seeing as though I know NOTHING about bikes it took me a while to notice that the front tire was flat. I got off to check out the situation and noticed that the back tire was also flat. Who the hell does this even happen to!? I had no idea what to do.....can you fill those things up at air pumps at a gas station like you can a car? Seeing as though it wasn't my bike, it's very pricey and I didn't know that to do, I decided to call my sister to come and rescue me. At least I got about a mile of walking in (bike in tow) before she came to get me.
I got home and, feeling defeated, walked across the street to the gym and rocked the elliptical and some weights.
After talking to the boy's BIL who works at the Bike Doctor , I discovered that the tires will go low if they aren't full when you're riding and that you should check the air pressure every time before you leave the house. I also found out that this awesome bike was WAY to small for me (bummer) but that they had a street bike that would fit me and they'd let me borrow it. Win.

I took it out the very first day I got it. Let me tell you what though, it's scary to ride on the roads. Especially in NOVA where traffic can get really insane. For this reason, I wanted to ride on the sidewalk my first time on this bike. BAD MOVE. I was coming back onto the sidewalk (only about a mile into my ride) and one of those tiny little tires got stuck in the groove between the grass and the sidewalk. Let me tell you what. I effing ate it. Before I knew it I flew into the street, landing on my head. Disaster. (Always wear your helmet). Since nothing seemed to be seriously hurt (besides my ego) I decided not to quit and made a very nice workout out of it.

**PS - I am still sore from that wreck. The side of my legs and neck are stiff and I have road rash on my right shoulder blade**
I feel like this is why I run. Grace, I have none. Coordination, what is that? Common Sense, hardly.
I am learning my lessons though. I ride on the street shoulders, I check my tires and I bring my phone whenever I go out. It is easy to make it back 2 miles to your house if something happens while running. It is quite another when your up in the double digit miles away from your house and aren't prepared.