Preparation is Key

This weekend was solid. There really isn’t a particular reason why, just a lot of small fun/funny moments that made it fab.

Patapsco State Park is a big huge park near Baltimore that has an endless amount of trails to explore. I sometimes run there when it’s warmer, but on Saturday Andrew and I decided to bundle up and find some new trails.

We got a solid 75 minutes of hiking under our belts, and discovered some pretty stellar views in the process. Following the hike we hit up Subway’s JanuANY special and scarfed down footlongs. One each.

I probably wouldn’t have felt bad if we wouldn’t have followed up later that evening with a hot fudge sundae on top of a waffle. Oops.

'DONT EAT IT YET I NEED A PICTURE'

In comparison to my almost 100% paleo diet during the week, weekends can get a little sketchy. Granted, we were both freezing on our walk home, and literally nothing sounded better than hot fudge on top of a Belgium waffle...

Have I mentioned Vaccaros before in Little Italy? Its got some seriously decadent desserts. If you're ever in town, go.

Anyways,  even with a sweaty run bike run bike (15 mins each) workout yesterday pre-Broncos kicking the Pat’s butts didn’t make me feel much better. Pair that with some artichoke dip, and a celebratory shot or two when Peyton sealed the deal, and we’re talking about a pretty negligent weekend nutrition-wise.

I’m not too strict when it comes to weekends in general, but when hot fudge sundaes do call my name, I try to make extra certain that I set myself up for success for that coming week. Preparation is key.

Now, I  believe I’ve mentioned my snack drawer at work on here before, and I wanted to give you all a quick update on its current status, because it’s looking pretty damn impressive. Keep in mind, I'm a strong believer in keeping a stocked, healthy snack drawer...

Yes, there are at least six different kinds of tea in there. I continue to fall in love with tea, especially now that I have an awesome tea pot at home.

I went to town for a solid 90 minutes this evening in the kitchen, cooking up some broccoli slaw for my lunches (not pictured), a badass veggie fritata (picture bottom), and some delicious paleo Cranberry Pecan Pumpkin Banana muffins. The original recipe can be found here - but keep in mind that I threw about a half cup of pumpkin in there, omitted the coconut (didn't have it), used coconut oil instead of butter, and used pecans instead of walnuts just because that's what I had on hand. 

They are great. If you're a muffin person, try these bad boys out.

Hopefully my food preparation this evening has me on track for success this week. Word on the street is that Balty is going to get a couple inches of snow tomorrow, something I'm actually looking forward to.

Snow > dirty dead grass.

Cheers!

K

Falling into Fall (literally)

I’ve missed you guys.

I apologize for my shady absence, but I was out living pretty damn hard this past Labor Day Weekend.

And now my body is desperately trying to find normal again, whatever normal is these days. 6 AM alarms have felt like 4 AM alarms the past three days, but it was well worth it. Mentally, it was more needed than I could have ever realized.

Physically? Physically it confused my body. Today it’s still asking me if the abundance of drinks – umbrella beach drinks, coronas with tangy limes, shots of whiskey – if all that was really necessary. Confused as to why I was eating philly cheesesteaks for breakfast on the beach, and chasing it with a cannoli.

That’s not a joke, I promise it happened.

Asking if not one, but almost two nights of no sleep was really necessary.

It was.

Because laying in bed next to my best friends, ranting about our dreams and our fears and asking the hard ‘why’ questions outweighs any night of sleep. Because sprinting into the ocean in the dim moonlight, with nothing between the waves and our skin… that’s living like we were made to live. And sitting in that sand, hand in hand, watching our beautiful sun start to peak over the edge of the water and sprinkling sparkles over the waves… that will knock any amount of sleep out of the water.

 You can take my pillow, I’ll take the memories.

The memories of standing in a gas station parking lot the next day, having my knee scrubbed free of asphalt and sand while tears of laughter and pain run down all three of our faces. The asphalt that I met at 4 AM on the way to the beach, in a dead sprint. The lost skin was worth it. The scars that will form will bring me joy, not sadness.

Dancing to the point of perhaps reinducing stress fractures in my feet? Worth it. Waking up with sore ribs and abs from laughing late into the night will bring me more pride than any p90x you want to throw at me.  

There was a re-prioritization that happened in my head this weekend, slowly. My health is so important to me. But locking myself up in my room for 3 weeks straight in order to sugar detox? That isn’t as important as living this life that is so freaking short. Celebrating the gifts we were given, the friendships we are blessed with, this amazing earth we live on.

I’m not saying I’ve punted. I’m currently sipping tea as I type this, absent-mindedly making my paleo-like list for the grocery store. By the way, we did make some healthy pumpkin bars this past weekend … and ate the entire pan by noon that same day. They were excellent.

Recipe linked here

I’ll wrap this up, I could go on forever. I’m so blessed to have my wolves. I’m lucky to have this life I live, no matter how hard and shitty it may seem at times. I’m excited that it’s fall, and for what it brings; both the good and the bad. It’s a season of change, not only as the leaves color and fall, but within my own life.

Thank you all for doing life with me. I will always try my hardest to publish my full self on this tiny little domain, hence the semi-romantic rant I just went on. I’m glad I’m back, I’m glad football is back, and I’m so, so glad that tomorrow is already Friday.

What are the thoughts on the new layout? Props to my girl Kailyn, she worked her magic pretty dang hard. Get in touch with her if you're looking for a blog makeover.

Cheers my friends.

K8

The Missing 5k

Have told you guys yet about Maryland’s sunrises?

I know I don’t give this state much credit on occasion, but HOT DAMN they consistently have some pretty amazing neon sunrises. It made driving to work this morning that much better.

mmmm pasty white legs

It was warm this weekend, warm enough to crank out 8.5 miles in shorts, which rocked. What didn’t rock was dealing with my sad puppy boyfriend on Saturday night after that overtime Broncos loss against the Ravens. On the brightside, I get another Ravens spirit day at work this Friday AKA I get to wear jeans again. 

#winning

SO, my plan for Sunday afternoon was to race in a 5k that a local running group, the Howard County Striders was putting on. The have an ‘iceberg’ series these next couple weeks that offer a variety of different distances to race each Sunday, at super cheap prices. ($2)

I was stoked. I drove to the lake where I thought the race was held at, $2 in hand. I ran a lap around the lake in search of the signup table… and found nothing.

I was sad, thought to myself maybe the race had been cancelled on late notice, ran a few more miles and then drove home. Turns out that the joke was on me, as on my way home I found it. 30 minutes too late. Literally across the street from where I had been running.

((Wipes tear from face))

Defeated, I and drove over to Andrew's house with my tail between my legs. His idea of cheering me up was suggesting that we do p90x plyometrics again.

my thoughts on that.

Have I told you that I hate it? Have I told you that I want to backhand Tony Horton, the guy who leads the videos?

source

Nonetheless, it’s always a great workout, and necessary for me to keep my muscles guessing. Odds are it will probably become part of our weekly routine, as he’s currently sticking to p90x pretty closely.

Me? I’ll always prefer the open road running trail.

How was everyone’s weekends? Any races? Any other sad Bronco fans?

Cheers to Monday!

Bad Samples, Good Weekend

I had every intention of writing a new post yesterday. And then laziness set in... and I sat. And watched football. And ate. And stretched. And watched more football.

I wore this ensemble all day long, including errand-running. 

 Overall, solid weekend. Uneventful, not exceptionally productive but solid.

I made a trip to a local apple orchard with my roommate, where I managed to get a variety of things that made me unreasonably excited. For example:

Which I slathered onto a slice of pumpkin bread this morning. DOUBLE PUMPKIN GREATNESS.

I also got three mini pumpkins, one which I gave to Andrew, and two which now sit in my room.

Let’s see, what else…

I knocked out 20 miles on Sunday, which actually went pretty well. It was a cool morning, and an old man complimented me on my ‘cool green socks’. Believe me, at mile 16 I’ll take any compliment I can get. 

post-run

Since the Philly Half my coach Amanda has lowered my long-run pace to the 8:20-8:30 range, so like an obedient student I managed to hold a steady 8:24 pace… in contrast to my 8:40’s the past couple few weeks. By the time I got home from the run it was already 11:30, and time to go to Costco.

Yes.

Cliff note: typically I’m able to literally feed myself lunch from Costco samples alone. Sadly, yesterday the sample people really let me down, and Andrew and I left having to immediately tear into the massive bag of veggie straws that he bought. Bad samples literally have the ability to ruin my day. Thank goodness for veggie straws.

I also bought this:

That, my friends, is 10 lbs of oatmeal. Which will hopefully get me through the winter. Maybe?

And here we are, Monday afternoon.  My left hip is strangely sore, which of course calls for some foam rolling tonight... maybe even the hot tub?

With New York only 6 weeks out, I plan to be overly proactive with injury prevention. This means foam rolling, foot stretching, heating/icing, etc. Yet Just to be clear, it DOES NOT mean omitting froyo from my diet. Not possible.

Last but certainly not least, congrats to a dear friend of mine, Miss Hode, for a massive marathon PR this weekend out in Omaha- You rock!

I'll leave you with this my friends. And don't forget it.

Cheers!!

Happy Things Thursday

The haze of the weekend is slowly lifting, and I’m beginning to feel (kind of) normal again. The whiplash is slowly subsiding, and my sinuses are just about done draining salt water.

Good thing, seeing that it's basically the weekend again tomorrow.

My dinner last night literally consisted of pineapple and pieces of zucchini, helping me to come to the realization that I desperately needed to go to the grocery store.

So I headed off to my trustworthy Trader Joes on my lunch break today to load up on things that make me happy. And although I rolled my ankle (sad) in the parking lot on the way into the store, I managed to limp around up and down the aisles and get some of my necessary staples. Check it out:

not a staple, but wanted to try it.

 I proceeded to concoct another pumpkin smoothie for lunch, and it was my best one yet. Still not blog-worthy, but I’ll keep working on it. Nothing but the best for you guys.

 Another thing that makes me happy? Football season is officially underway. Is it Sunday yet? Go Bears.

notice the shirt. 2007 throw back pic. don't act like you don't love it.

 Last happy thing on my agenda to share: my tempo run yesterday.

I hit the track to do some mile repeats, prescribed by my coach Amanda. I ran the 2.5 miles to the track to warmup, and then had three 7:00 minute miles on tap. I was nervous, not feeling great and it was super freaking humid. (any time now fall, any time) I wasn’t expecting to succeed. And in a small way, I didn’t, because I ran the repeats too fast.

What?

My miles averaged out to a 6:50 pace… not something I’m going to be upset about. And believe me, I felt like hell afterwards.

I have a Barre Fusion class on tap tonight, something that I’ve really taken to over the past month or so. It’s a combo of ballet, interval training and pilates, and I always leave feeling toned and limber.

Anyone else have any workout plans for the evening? Or perhaps a favorite new fitness class?

For now, cheers!

Turning the Corner

Is anyone else absolutely blown away by the fact that September is right around the corner?  IT’S THIS SATURDAY!

I’ve never been one to go by official dates when it comes to the seasons. I know that there is an ‘official day’ that fall begins on, etc., but in my mind, September = fall. Something I am very excited about.

Last Fall in Vail

What am I excited about? 

• Football games
• Crisp cool days, coinciding with long runs
• Changing leaves
• Fall brews
• Bowls of chili
• Wearing sweats any time I’m not at work… the list goes on and on.

Maryland football!!!

my daily attire.

pretty leaves.

I'm so excited, in fact, I’m going to share my most recent smoothie recipe with you guys. I whipped this bad boy up on Saturday afternoon, and it hit the spot. Hard.

-1 bannana

-1/2 cucumber

-1 kiwi

-1/2 apple

-splash of lime juice

-splash of tart cherry concentrate

As you can see, I proceeded to eat the other half of the apple with peanut butter. One of my favorite combos ever.

Another exciting development: I hit my #plankaday goal last night. Actually topped it – check it out!

Hope everyone is having a splendid Tuesday. I’m off to run the following on the track:

2 mile warm-up

6 x 800 (2:50 pace)

400 between each 800

Couple miles cool down.

Holllaaaaaaa – cheers!