Two Days

It’s snowing again today. I suppose I can’t really comment, as I’ve stated in the past that my personal rule is I can’t complain about snow until we hit March.

Two more days 'til March guys.

I realized that the combination of a beautiful weather weekend followed by three crappy cold snowy days of weather this week was been the perfect concoction for a bad attitude, and not feeling so hot. I have literally been a Debbie Downer to the point that I googled ‘things to do to make me happy’ … and super unmotivated to the point that I considered going to bed at 7:30 pm last night.

Instead, I went over to Andrew’s in full-fledged pout mode, and he did two things that I really needed.

• Got me a mini cheesecake from Whole Foods
• Told me to stop being a pansy

Fair enough. So I guess instead of sitting here being a crying pansy, I will do everything in my power to share positive things.

I’m feeling good about the workout balance that I’m finding over the course of this past month. Andrew and I recently bought a Bikram Hot Yoga Groupon, so that will now be implemented 1 – 2xs per week, on top of my twice(ish) a week spinning, running, and crossfitting. Pretty solid balance if you ask me.

source

Speaking of crossfit, here is my most recent WOD:

4 sets, for time

15 thrusters (45 lbs)

15 burpees over the bar

Total Time, 12:36. Shoulders are still feeling sore today.

I discovered a few challenging looking treadmill workouts on Ashley’s blog - I think I may try the one below out this week. I’ve been trying a little harder recently to find more blogger friends who I enjoy reading. Another is Becki over at Bites & Brews who is currently hosting a Craft Beer book giveaway if you’re interested!

original source

Last but not least, one of my favorite ways to stay positive is to find quotes on Pinterest and share them, set them as my phone background, write them down, etc. I find a lot of power in simple words, so I shall leave you with a few.

and my personal favorite - 

Cheers to being halfway –

Kait

Crow

It's that time of week again - when the sun shines a little brighter, and the commute seems just a little bit shorter...

Hopefully?

Happy Friday! This morning I decided to link up with one of my fellow Baltimore Bloggers, Kerry, and participate in Five Things Friday...

from The Adventures of Z & K

Ready?

1. I'm very excited about this. Yesterday at yoga, for the first time ever, I managed to hold crow pose!

Oops - wrong picture...

Unfortunately, it wasn't in a cool shirt like hers....

For any of you who know what my flexibility is like as well as my general yoga abilities, this is a big deal. Feel free to leave gushing praise in the comments below.

2. I'm seeking running shoe advice. I'm serious - brands, models, anything. Help me out runner friends, give me some thoughts.

3. My girl Beth and I have been doing a lot of rides together the past few weeks. One of our favorite things to do lately is to head down to Fells Point for yoga a couple times a week. I've found that since I don't have to worry about parking with her, it actually takes less time than if I were to drive.

Beth's parking spot in my room.

4. Last night I was craving a treat after my tilapia dinner, so I threw together this bad boy:

A banana, fried in coconut oil, with a dash of unsweetened cocoa powder mixed in. Coconut sprinkled on top, 100% 21-Day Detox approved.

It was good - seriously, try it.

5. This weekend I'm pup-sitting one of my coworker's furry friends.

We have plans for long walks, movies of her choice, and cooking meals that she can smell and I can enjoy.

That's all over here folks, I'm off to work. Hope your day is marvelous-

Cheers!

that kind of run

It’s just been one of those weeks.

The 21 Day Sugar Detox probably isn’t really helping morale at this point, but I keep telling myself that I’ll feel better by the weekend.

Back to that later. Let’s talk about the positives so far this week:

My sister and mom sent me an awesome Under Armour care package full of fun accessories. I’m obsessed with the socks….

I’m pretty sure I just run better in brightly colored socks. Is anyone else with me?

My bike, Beth, came home on Tuesday after her weekend get-away at Joe’s Bike Shop. She got all aligned and greased up and is ready to tear up 8 miles with me this Sunday. It should be fun; I’m both nervous and excited since triathlons are so new and unknown to me.

I woke up yesterday and Wednesday was like ‘hey I’m going to beat the crap out of you and there isn’t much you can do about it.’

Well I did the one thing that I know always helps. I ran.

I drove straight to a nearby straight park after work, laced up my trusty Brooks, and darted onto the first trail that I saw.

It was a reckless kind of run. Do you ever have those? I could have given two licks about my pace, where I was going, if I knew how to get back. The trails were muddy due to recent rain – it even started raining while I was out there – and I loved it. Mother Earth splattered up my calves, and her humidity had me dripping by mile two. It was lovely.

I ended up on a trail I had never been on, in the middle of a prairie-like field overgrown with thorns and long grass. The brush scratched my shins as I tore through it, and I welcomed the slight stinging. White-tailed deer pranced away almost sooner than I could spot them, unwelcoming and unsure of my presence.

The trail opened up and spit me out next to the river, and the dirt quickly turned to sand underneath my feet. I stayed course for a while, before admitting myself that it was time to turn around. The path I chose back to my car was mainly uphill, and took my through several small streams. The runner in me told me to slow down and step over the water using the rocks, the child in my screamed to run straight through them. The child won, and the cool water splashed up to my knees. Needless to say, my shoes are still a little damp today.

I got back to my car tired and wet and panting yet feeling very much relieved. It had just been one of those days, but it had also been one of those runs. I was more tired than usual, perhaps to my body still adjusting to the lack of processed sugar.  But I still hold true to the idea that this cleanse will be worth it in the end.

That’s all I have for today. I would apologize for the weird descriptive rant that I just went on about a 6 mile run… but I won’t, because I liked it.

Physical therapy & Yoga on the docket for tonight. Hopefully an early bedtime for this girl, as the alarm was not kind to me this morning.

Cheers!

Fireflying

I haven't written all week. I know, I know, I'm sorry. Between moving, work, boyfriend(s) {KIDDING} and the gym, free time has been slim to none. There's just going to be weeks like that, we all have 'em.

My gift from my wolf. I love it. Cover your eyes kids.

I am writing this post from my rooftop deck, and it's glorious. The even more glorious part is that my sister and her two friends are sleeping right below me. The 3 crazy Chicago chicas drove through the night last night, and crashed on my bed/couches/around 8 AM.

Why you ask? FIREFLY.

A couple years ago my sister had the opportunity to work for the awesome company, Red Frog Events, in Chicago. She was actually in the original 'crew' that did all the planning for Red Frog's Firefly Music Festival - and therefore was offered free tickets this year to go.

"If I come out to Delaware in June for Firefly, will you buy tickets too?"

Ellie Goulding, The Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Edward Sharpe, MGMT, Tom Petty, Delta Rae, Dispatch, Passion Pit, Foster the People... and that's just naming a few...

"Absolutely I'll go."

Back to this morning. They walked in the door here in Baltimore and went to bed... I ran out the door for a quick run and circuit workout, thanks to some inspiration from my friend Brooke over at Babbling Brookelyn...

5 sets of:
-20 walking lunges
-15 air squats
-10 burpees
-10 pushups

All in the wet grass of a nearby park. Good stuff.

Then I stretched/rolled/did a bit of yoga up here:

I asked my roommate Megan the other day if I can just move my bed up here. For now, I will have to be content with the baby pool we brought up to cool off in.

That's all the time I've got for today. I apologize for being a neglectful piece of crap, however it may continue for awhile. If I had to guess our campsites in Delaware won't have internet... and I'm heading back with the ladies on Monday for some Chicago time this week. Hopefully catch up with ya'll on Sunday?

Would love to hear any weekend plans, music festival advice (this is my first) or anything random you feel like sharing.

Cheers to music!

The State of Kait

Have you guys noticed I haven’t been running much lately? And by very much, I mean hardly at all.

I know my body pretty well after spending 25 years with it. And so when my ‘sore’ foot wouldn’t stop being sore, I took a wild guess that it was a bit more than just a strained muscle.

So I sulked skipped on back to my favorite orthopedic sports doctor and told her what was up. ‘Man the left side of your body sure hates you eh?’ she joked.

Ha.

After some prodding around, a couple x-rays, and a cool wristband, we came to a conclusion.

Turns out my sneaking suspicions were correct. Turns out I have a little bit of a stress fracture in the 5^th metatarsal of my left foot. 

That guy, right there.

When it rains it pours? Nah, I don’t think so. Outside of this little crack I’m dealing with, 2013 has been giving me some stellar vibes so far.  I mean, I won a cruise. The Raven’s won the Superbowl. Maryland just beat Duke, my lifetime arch-nemesis. I’m learning to dance, and swim.

AMEN SISTER

I'll be fine. And if I take care of myself, I should be back on the trail within a couple weeks...

So what’s the plan? Well, no running at all, which is a bit different than when I was recovering from my IT Band crap and could still run a couple miles at a time. 

Zero to super low impact is the key to success this time around.

If I had to guess, I amped up my mileage a bit too fast coming back in January. Lesson learned.  It's always good to learn some lessons.We caught it early so there’s no boot or any of that nonsense. It really only hurts after a period of high impact, or an extended period on my feet. I’m making an effort to wear more supportive shoes for awhile, and to stick these guys in any pair of shoes that I can.

Yoga, swimming, spinning, pool running, weight lifting. Story of my life these next couple weeks. And ya know what? That’s ok. I'd rather this happen now versus September, before my fall marathon.

In the meantime, I signed up for a summer sprint triathlon to cheer myself up, and give myself a little more motivation to hop into that pool that I still kind of hate a little bit.

Trying new things is good, right? 

That's all I've got for today folks, nothing else to see here. Head up, onward.

Cheers!

One Year

This is going to jump around, but bear with me, I think you'll enjoy it.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday. I tried my best not to be too fat because I think I did enough of that during my birthday week. So in attempt to turn Fat Tuesday into Thin (but strong) Tuesday, I dragged myself to 90 minutes of "Yoga for Athletes."

It was hard, I was out of my element. People started pulling out the handstands and the headstands and I was like ummm....

No. I'll just stand here and admire your skill.

I think I should keep going. I simultaneously loved and hated it. I walked away exhausted.

I stopped at Dicks after work on my way home today to grab an essential:

I've never owned one. I don't know how to use it. I'm unsure if getting my 5 lbs of hair into that swim cap is even possible.

I also saw these and want them yet have no reason for them. I may start looking for a reason. Any suggestions?

One year ago was a big day for me. Who knows why? Don't all raise your hands at once.

One year ago I hopped into my little black Honda Civic named Shannon, and moved my life from Chicago (suburbs) to Maryland. I'm pretty sure I wrote a blog post about it...

My mind is blown when I think about this past year, and how much has changed and evolved. I scored an awesome job, I've made some amazing friends, and have explored some breathtaking places.

I fell in love with the ocean in a similar way that I did with the mountains.

It's encouraging the way that the Baltimore area continues to grow on me. I'm stoked to move to the city in May with a coworker of mine, and am looking forward to the many adventures that are already beginning to fall into place for this spring and summer.

Salty Balty, here I come. Stay Tuned.

Cheers!

Lessons Learned

Typically I keep my posts fairly short. This one, not so much. There's my disclaimer.

I wrote this in my head on a run a couple weeks ago. I got home and jotted down everything that was bouncing around in my brain on the first thing I could find, and have been scheming the publication of it ever since.

i'm a dork.

Being the somewhat superstitious runner that I am, I told myself I wouldn't post this until I was able to run 10 miles again without any issues.

Today that happened, with the help of 4 slow warmup miles followed by a 6 mile race at a 6:53 pace. I don't feel like talking about the race though. I'd rather talk about my IT band.

I realize that injury is something that very often comes with the territory of being an athlete. I had my fair share of injuries throughout my volleyball career in college, yet my IT band/hamstring issues in my left leg was my first big challenge as a runner.

Iliotibial band injuries are super common for us crazy runner folk - almost too common. During my extensive time spent at with my awesome Physical Therapist, Sean, this was something we often talked about. He was seeing SEVERAL other runners struggling with the same issue, all desperately trying to get it under control before their next big race.

If I had one word to offer to any one currently fighting with their IT band, it would be Patience... something that certainly isn't my strong suit. But I think patience has made me a more intelligent runner, and taught me a A LOT about my body.

You see, Sean and I went through just about every option possible as to what was making my IT band freak out. I am extremely inflexible, I have a fractured L5 vertabrae, I have a job at which I spend long periods sitting.... I don't didn't lift very much at all.... AKA I had poor muscle strength, specifically GLUTE strength. I also had recently switched into a more 'natural' running shoe prior to getting injured.

my babies. aka my brooksconnects

I think transitioning from a collegiate volleyball player who lifted pretty hard 3-4 times per week to occasionally playing with 10 lb weights in the gym mirror affected me a lot. I also think having a crack through  my lower vertebrae played a part.

I don't think my shoes were the issue. I think switching into them too quickly was stupid. But I still run in two pairs of the BrookesPure line today, and I love them.

Bottom line, I had to go back to the basics. Lateral movement/exercise was something that hadn't been present in my workouts for a couple of years, and that combined with a whole lot of sitting on my @$$ presented me with some pretty pathetically weak glutes, and even a weak core.

indoor skating. loved this thing.

Those muscles essentially had to be 'reactivated'. So I started 'skating' at Physical Therapy. I jumped around like a buffoon, and I had a long talk with the weight rack before deciding that we had to be friends again.

Outside of my physical therapy, I had to find other options. P90x plyos are great although I hate them. I also began to lock myself in my gym's empty raquetball court to shuffle and dash around like a wild woman. I have to keep all of those butt/hip/glute muscles guessing in order to keep rebuilding them.

my own personal crossfit box.

I have to give Sean a lot of credit. I spent a lot of time in that Physical Therapy office being bossed around instructed by him, but he also spent a lot of time outside of my appointment times studying the videos of me running on the treadmill, breaking down my every movement and pronaton. I owe him big time, and am grateful to have been paired up with him.

I don't think there is a quick fix to taking care of an IT band injury. ART may help it, it helped me to a degree. And I know for a fact it helps others more quickly and effectively than it did for me. But from what I experience and learned and research, that's not the permanent fix.

Lift weights. I'm serious. I'm not saying you have to get a weight belt and throw around 30 lb dumbbells. But take the time, at least twice a week, to give those glutes, quads, calves etc. some love.

Mix things up. I LOVE running, and there were periods of time when running was my only workout. 6 days a week, between 40-50 miles. I'm not saying high mileage weeks are bad... but you've GOT to throw some curveballs at your body.

That's why right now, during a 'non-training' period I'm making it a PRIORITY to not only run several times a week, but to swim, spin, lift, do plyos, and even drag myself to yoga. Because to quote my ever-wise PT, "The healthiest, most balanced runners that I've seen maintain a combo of running, some kind of strength training, and yoga."

Sidenote - I would also now consider my foam roller to be my best friend. In the entire world.

Getting back to a 'pain-free' place wasn't easy. It wasn't quick. It most certainly didn't go as I had envisioned it. From October 1st, the day I got hurt it took me 3 months to be able to run 60 minutes again. Add three more weeks to that and I'm back up to 10 miles.

OK, wrapping up... 

Getting hurt sucked. But rebuilding myself has made me respect running SO MUCH more. I don't take it for granted anymore, instead I constantly remind myself how freaking blessed I am to wake up on any given day and fly down a beautiful running trail. Being injured brought a ton of tears but has also (slowly) helped to show me so much joy.

Cheers to running!

The burrito that stalked me

Has it really been over a month since I’ve written a Weird Wednesday post? Why didn’t someone slap me?

To make it up, I have a very special story for you all.

But before I forget, a quick kudos to myself… I did yoga last night! A full hour class! The instructor was a couple minutes late, and as I sat there waiting I slowly started convincing myself a variety of reasons as to why I should walk out and get on the treadmill instead. Luckily, I talked myself off the ledge and the instructor walked in shortly after.

And surprise surprise, I felt great afterwards! Progress.

SO, this past Friday through Monday I ran a cumulative total of about 24 miles. To some, that may not seem like much… and once upon a time that wasn’t a big deal to me either. But as an ex-injured runner slowly rebuilding her mileage base… that’s an accomplishment for me. That’s not the point of this story though.

this is the point.

 The point is, I forgot how RAVISHED running higher mileages make me. Like, crazed mountain lion type of hungry. Shortly after getting back from 7 miles on Monday evening, the hunger hit me like bricks and I sprinted down to my freezer and threw the first thing into the microwave that i could find. It just so happened to be this:

source

I trotted back upstairs, steaming burrito in hand, ate half of it and left the rest on the bathroom counter to continue post-shower.  I was in a hurry to get over to Andrew’s apartment, and didn’t feel greasy hair was sufficient to cheer on watch the Irish get the crap kicked out of them. Sad face.

Where I went wrong: not eating the entire burrito. Halfway through my shower, shampoo running down my face, I realized I could no longer avoid the screaming burrito on the bathroom counter. Shamefully, I got out of the shower and shoved the rest of the burrito into my mouth.

post-shower shame

WHAT?

Why am I publicly admitting this? I don’t know. Because it’s weird, and I’ve been a neglectful blogger when it comes to Weird Wednesdays. 

I’ll leave you with this. I saw it last night and I nodded to myself and wondered if I would make it the background of my computer at work. I decided against it, but I still love it:

excuse the vulgarity, but it's true.

 I've got some recipes coming up for Friday!

Cheers!

The Plan

Happy National Pumpkin Day! In honor of this beautiful holiday, I brought in a special little decoration for my desk at work.

Actually I had no idea that today was this wonderful holiday until I caught wind of it on my internet browser this morning. The desk décor just happened to be a coincidence.

Great news! My stellar boyfriend let me upgrade our gym membership so that we now have the ‘plus plan’. What does this mean? More fitness classes for me to attend. In all honesty I never use to be the biggest fan of ‘group’ fitness classes outside of spin class, which is currently off limits until my IT band starts behaving. However, I recently developed a strong desire to start incorporating Yoga into my life, and our gym offers a variety of different levels/classes/options.

yoga for athletes? yes please.

I tried out the body pump class last night for the first time, and was blown away how many 50 year old woman were literally kicking my ass. I used super light weight since this was my first time, and was definitely feeling it by the end of the 60 minutes. Our awesome instructor also handed out wrist bands for breast cancer awareness month, which for some reason made me feel very special.

All this being said, I threw together a ‘weekly’ plan last night for my workouts until running is back in the picture. I feel good about it.

Thought of the day: Was this water bottle holder in the stairmaster I got on this morning specifically made to fit Gatorade water bottles? I feel confident that it was.

Question of the day: Have you ever tried Larabars? They are my FAVORITE ‘bars’, made in Denver Colorado, all composed of simple ‘clean’ ingredients, and absolutely delicious.  Chocolate chip cherry tort is by far my favorite, it's basically like eating dessert. 

Picture of the day:

enough said.

This afternoon my company hosted a ‘fall fest’ for all employees. Events included a corn eating contest as well as a bags tournament. Everyone was clearly extremely excited for it, and quickly embraced the corn as our theme for the day. Work weeks simply don't end any better.

What does your weekend look like? Any Halloween activities?

Cheers!