Weekly Rundown- Not Bad, Just Different
Well, this was an interesting week! I wish I could say there was a ton of running, but I can’t. There were cardio alternatives though, and I switched up some things strength-wise. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Let’s just see what happened in this odd week. Sunday Leg day at the gym! The most notable thing about this workout is that I put ten pound plates on the bar for my squats, for the first time. I didn’t quite get down low enough though, as you can see by this photo: I always get scared doing squats- scared of what, I couldn’t tell you. Scared that it will be hard? Or that I can’t do it? I vowed to try it again next time and get down lower. Monday Okay, sigh. My shin was acting up again so I got in the pool. Just to clarify, this is a recurring issue that pops up every time I try to run a little faster. It’s not that I can’t run; I’m just trying to prevent it from getting to that point. 45 minute pool run. Tuesday Inspired by Wendy’s post last week, I got out my old arch-nemesis, the pull up bar. I was able to do a hard at-home upper body strength workout with the 10 and 15 pound dumbbells I have- lateral raises, overhead shoulder press, and negatives on the pull up bar. The way I do them is, I put my knee in the band and pull myself up (with the band to assist me.) Then I slip my leg out of the band and sloooowly lower myself down with full body weight. It’s crazy how hard this is! I also did planks and side planks. Wednesday Instead of doing a long trail run, I decided to do a “long cardio” at the gym. I did the first 30 minutes on the stair climber (ugh) and then got on the treadmill for an hour. Again- ugh. I felt my shin when I first started running, but as long as I kept the treadmill at an incline, it was fine. Treadmill runs are so boring- I adjusted the incline and pace frequently just to break it up. Yes, I would rather have been out on the trail for 90 minutes! But this was a good substitute. Thursday Another 45 minute pool run. This time it was still dark, so I got to “run” with the full moon! (I thought of Kim.) But the biggest thing about this workout is that I listened to this episode of the Human Performance Outliers podcast, with Ben Patrick, the “Knees Over Toes” guy, talking about his top six strength moves. I’ve heard of him many times, but something just clicked this time. Once I was out of the pool, I looked up his moves on Youtube and decided to add them into my routine. Friday Leg day! Part 1 was at home. I did Knees Over Toes tibialis raises (these should help my shin!), goblet squats, and Nordic hamstring curls. or I should say, I attempted the Nordics but couldn’t quite do them- they are REALLY hard. Then, the gym where I pushed and pulled the sled! This is another Knees Over Toes move- he says it helps with achilles issues and plantar fasciitis. Your heels never touch the floor- you can see how this would strengthen the feet and calves. Then, back to the squat bar- I got down lower! After deadlifts and abs, I did hamstring curls- obviously my hamstrings are very weak, and I have to work up to doing the Nordic curls. Saturday Hmmm, my legs were sore today! That’s okay though. I got in a good 5 mile run before work. The humidity was 95% for this run, but it was early enough (just after sunrise) that it felt okay. I felt my shin before and after the run but not during, so… I guess it’s fine for now. The tibialis raises and sled pushes/pulls should fix everything! Sunday OFF! Sleeping late! Pumpkin pancakes! Reading and watching football! It’s going to be a nice, relaxing day off. I like my workouts, but I definitely know how to relax when the time comes. What do you like to do on your days off? Or do you not take days off? Have you heard of the Knees Over Toes workouts?
September Coffee Date- It’s Time!
Get out the pumpkin mugs! Pumpkin Palooza has begun! I’m joining Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date. Grab a (pumpkin) mug of your favorite hot beverage- earl grey tea for me- and let’s get started. If we were sitting down together for coffee (tea), the first thing I would share is that I usually get out all my fall decorations on September 1st. Yes, it’s 95 degrees outside. Yes, fall doesn’t officially start until September 23rd. But I’m always so excited I can’t wait. THIS year, though, I’ve decided to start off gradually with a football theme. The first Baylor game is tomorrow night, and I’m so excited. I love college football and I LOVE our Baylor Bears! The beers are chilling in the fridge, we’ve paid the big bucks to stream the games, and I have all the ingredients for Ultimate Vegan Nachos! I always especially enjoy the very beginning of things, like the first day of Christmas vacation or the first football game of the season. I love it when things have barely begun, and all the rest is stretching out ahead. So you can imagine my happiness at pulling out my Crazy Pumpkin Lady mug for the first time this year, and decorating the house for the beginning of football. Now, let’s talk about that backsplash. In my last post I didn’t mean to imply that I would be revealing the finished product today. Ahem, not quite yet! The tiles have been ordered, and the tile guy is coming to install it next Wednesday. But since we’ve been waiting so long, here’s the tile we chose: Meanwhile, Wednesday is also the day the dishwasher repairman is coming, because our dishwasher has stopped working. This isn’t as big a tragedy as you might think- after living for over a week with no kitchen sink at all, not having a dishwasher is a minor inconvenience. I’m not exactly sure how one guy is going to repair the dishwasher while another guy is tiling our backsplash at the same time, but Wednesday is my day off, so that’s the day everyone is coming! Somehow we’ll work it out. Lastly, I would tell you that we saw Barbie- great movie! My daughter and I saw it with my friend and her two girls; our daughters have been friends since preschool. The only way we could convince the girls to go with us was to go to a theater in the next town over, so they wouldn’t run the risk of seeing anyone they knew while they were out with their moms. Sigh. We all wore pink! Here’s another “amazing” selfie. In the only shot where I don’t look like I have narcolepsy, I cut my daughter practically out of the picture. But you can see her pink top, barely. Funny side note: my daughter DID see someone she knew. Her assigned “study buddy” from biology, a nerdy (and I use that term lovingly- I like nerds) boy who walked up to her in the lobby of the theater and said “I finished the biology notes!” We all got a chuckle out of that (afterwards- not in front of him!) That’s about it for this first day of September! Are you excited about the new month? Anything you’re especially looking forward to in September?
Reading and Eating
Oof. It was a rough week for reading! I got through one book: It was frustrating, because I really liked this book. It’s a mystery with a compelling plat and interesting characters- I could have read through the whole thing in a day. But noooooooo… I kept having to interrupt my reading to take CEU classes (needed to renew my massage therapy license.) I’m happy to say, I’m finished with those and don’t have to think about it again for two whole years! OR, I could slowly chip away at them so I don’t have to have a panic attack in the last week next time. Ha- who am I kidding. I’m looking forward to getting back to a more regular reading schedule. Up next: Meanwhile, there was plenty of food! After all the tofu we ate this summer, I’ve declared this the “season of beans.” Yes, I want to get back to eating lots and lots of beans- chickpeas, lentils, black beans, pinto beans… beans are so nutritious, cheap, and easy. First up, we made “The Best Vegan Lasagna” from Nora Cooks. There are red lentils in the sauce! And we used the Miyoko’s pourable plant milk mozzarella for the top. It was our first time trying it and we loved it. Then, I cooked a huge pot of Cuban black beans. I’ve been trying all different recipes for these- I just google it and pick one that looks good. Here we served them with rice, broccoli, and plantains (the plantains were in the frozen section of our grocery store- we just heated them up in the oven.) This recipe made enough for a second dinner, and a lunch portion as well. My goal is to cook a huge pot of beans every week (this week it’s pinto beans) and eat them for a couple dinners. One more photo that unfortunately has no beans. It’s the magical peanut noodles that Birchwood Pie shared. This time they weren’t quite as amazing, because I made roasted cauliflower instead of roasted broccoli to go with them (broccoli is much better- everyone knows that!). But they were still delicious, and I garnished them with roasted peanuts, which kicked the whole meal up a notch. This Friday is The Ultimate Coffee Date! Join me as I answer the burning questions: “Whatever happened with the kitchen backsplash?” and “When does pumpkin palooza start?” See you Friday! What are you reading right now? Do you have a favorite recipe for beans?
Weekly Rundown- Back to the Trail
Ah, what a week! In addition to the usual shenanigans, I had to complete 24 hours of online CEU classes in order to renew my massage therapy license. To be clear, I had two years to complete these classes- I just “chose” to do it all in the last week (eye roll.) One of the classes I took was “Foundation Concepts of Core Stability,” and it reminded me how important the pelvic floor is. After my daughter was born, I couldn’t run five steps without peeing. I knew a lot of women had this problem so I didn’t take it seriously (I remember going to races wearing a pad, thinking that solved everything.) Eventually I read an article in Runner’s World that made it clear this is not okay. Your pelvic floor is a really important muscle of your deep core, and if it’s not working, then the rest of your body won’t work properly either. I found a pelvic floor rehab online, did the exercises, and the problem got about 80% better. Then I stopped doing the exercises because, to be honest, they’re incredibly boring (basically like kegels, combined with other small movements, coordinated with breathing.) Now I’m thinking maybe my pelvic floor needs a touchup- I’ll find those exercises again and add them to the list. Enough about urine! Let’s get on to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!) Here’s how the week played out: Sunday Leg day at the gym- focused on squats and deadlifts, with calves and abs thrown in as always. My husband and I went together, and he was my photographer. Monday 4 mile run! This run felt pretty good- it’s always nice to have some clouds. Tuesday Upper body day at the gym. Bench press, lat pulldowns, rows, overhead shoulder press, and abs. I was scrolling through my phone to find my photo from the day, and there isn’t one! Oops- I guess I forgot. Wednesday 9 mile run on my old favorite trail! This is the trail I ran on while training for my 50k, and I hadn’t seen it since April. It was great to be back, but it was a little overgrown. Thursday Off! When fitting together the puzzle pieces of workouts this week, it made the most sense to make this my day off. Friday I started the morning with leg day #2 at home. I have mixed feelings about these at-home leg days. On the one hand I’m doing a lot of things I don’t get to at the gym- things I haven’t done in a while, and it’s been eye- opening. For example, on this day I did side planks with a leg lift, and I could easily do ten on my right side- but on the left side I could barely get through five without resting. Hmm! On the other hand, I feel like I should be at the gym twice a week working on my squats and deadlifts. Sigh. After I dropped my daughter off, I went out for a 3 mile run. Saturday 4 mile run before work! Sunday On tap for today: back to the gym for leg day. And in the afternoon, my daughter and I are finally seeing Barbie with some friends! It was a good week- I fit almost everything in. I didn’t get to do my treadmill hill workout, so that (along with two gym leg days) is on the schedule for next week. We’ll see how that works out! How was your week? Did you get the monster heat wave? – I think the midwest was hotter than Florida. Have you ever done pelvic floor exercises? Do you have any to recommend?