Weird Wednesday & A Workout

I wasn't planning on writing tonight. My plan was to actually find some new music to throw onto my iPod while I laid in bed, because my workout playlists are starting to bore me half to death.

Then I started daydreaming in the shower and thought of a few things I want to talk about, realized they were all weird, and then realized that it's Wednesday.

Shall we have a weird Wednesday together?

Let's begin with the fact that I'm writing this from my new sleeping bag. 

I haven't owned a sleeping bag since I was pretty young. It had blue and red flowers on it and wasn't actually made for camping outdoors; I'm actually pretty sure I would have froze in it. But it was pretty and I liked it.

That's kind of how I feel about my new REI sleeping bag, except it's kind of cool that it's actually made to withstand cold temps. Andrew dragged me into REI this past weekend knowing that a lot of their sleeping bags were on sale, and told me to pick out an early birthday present.

We plan to do some camping this summer. Stay tuned.

Anyways, rewinding a little bit... while in the shower, two things happened. 

1. I stared at this sign that I hung up which my doctor recently gave me:

the how-to-check-your-boobs-once-a month-sign

I'm not saying the sign itself is weird. At all. Breast cancer is no joke - it's on both sides of my family, and my sweet grandmother passed away after battling it for quite some time. It's just a little weird intense now that I have a boob check sign hanging in my face every evening or morning when I shower. Intense, a little weird, but good. Really good. Love your boobies ladies. 

2. I scrubbed angrily at my right armpit with shower gel wondering why it's been itching now for at least a month. Consistently. Right armpit only?

Any thoughts? Dry skin? Is it normal to put lotion in your armpits? 

Looking for some guidance here people.

Another weird awesome thing? This video that my mom sent me tonight:

Jane is weird, and I love that she has found a way to entertain herself when the weather is too cold in Chicago for my mom to take her on her nightly walk.

Ok, moving away from the weirdness and onto the workout. I really love doing biking type intervals on my trainer, and hopping off after a certain period of time to switch up the heart rate. My friend Greg helped me to throw this together:

Bike to 15 min mark (keep watch running) - 5 push-ups, 10 squats, 15 sit-ups (x4)

Repeat at 30 mins, and 45 mins. I then finished off and biked after the third set until I hit 60 mins total.

I also signed up for the Daily Hiit 30 Day Challenge which has been emailing me some badass high intensity interval training to try out. While I'm not strictly following the challenge, they offer some really creative workouts if you're interested.

That's all I got. Actually I lied, I have a pretty awesome recipe but I'm going to save it for Friday. Stay tuned.

Cheers -

K

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!

Try Try Tri

Where oh where do I begin?

How about at 4:45 AM this morning, when the alarm went off?

Confession: I was a little worried about properly fueling for the race being on Day 7 of this sugar detox, and very few grains/no processed carbs being allowed in the picture. The good news is, I prepared plantain pancakes the night before, and loaded those bad boys up with almond butter when 5 AM rolled around.

(side note - plantains are my newest fav addition to my diet)

Fueling problem, solved.

I had no idea what I was walking into as I rolled Beth into the transition area to set all my stuff up. You all know what it's like, trying some for the first time. Walking into a completely unknown environment. Plus there were all those 'professional triathletes' strutting around with their perfectly toned calves and sponsored tri suits, making me feel even more unsure about myself.

I don't have a tri suit. I don't own clip-in shoes. I actually didn't even wear socks for the biking or running portions. I managed to do alright.

Before I divulge anymore detail, I want to the moral of the story to be this: almost anyone can do a sprint triathlon. Find yourself a bathing suit, a bike (any kind of bike) and strap on some kind of shoes (I saw people doing the run portion barefoot). You're golden.

My transition area.

I set up my transition area and realized that most of the women were planning on swimming in their compression/biking shorts, and so I made the last minute decision to pull mine shorts over my speedo and hop in the pool with them on.

I read a lot of articles to compete only in the attire that you are used to training in.

  I guess I'm a rebel rule breaker.

The pool swim flew by - it was short - 300 yards total. I underestimated my swim time pretty horrifically (underestimating myself is one of my favorite pastimes) and ended up starting pretty far back, therefore having to pummel pass 5-6 swimmers in the pool portion. At one point I did end up getting a kick to the face from the swimmer ahead of me, but hey I guess I deserved it.

If we are being honest, I can't wait to see the professional pictures of me sprinting across the street from the pool to the transition area, swim cap and goggles in hand, water flying off of me. I probably looked like the biggest badass ever.

If I had to pick an area I felt the weakest in, it was the bike course. 8 miles - two 4 mile laps - with a couple of small hills, and one pretttty decent size hill. Decent as in several people got off their bikes and walked up the hill...

Guys come on now, you see the subtitle of my blog up there. Life's too short to walk.

Kidding, kidding, but seriously, Beth and I groaned up that hill twice together, never stopping, and zipped back into the transition area for the final stretch. I threw off my helmet and took off, legs feeling just like the bricks that brick workouts promise.

The run was a 5k. My PR for a 5k is 20:30 (hoping that one day I break 20) so my on-the-fly goal was to come in around the 21 minute range for the run, knowing that this was going to have to be my strongest area. The first lap (of two) felt like I was possibly holding a 9 minute pace... the second, maybe closer to an 8?

Come to find out, I actually held a 6:54 pace... lining up well with my goal and finishing my run at 21:26.

Final Time: 59 minutes, 18 seconds

15th out of 138 women for my first ever try/tri? Ya I'll take that as a win. Not only that, the bike ride portion was through the Baltimore zoo, and my glass that I was awarded for placing 2nd in my age group has a GIRAFFE on it. Whaaaaat!?!?!

SO DOES THE RACE SHIRT. BEST DAY EVER!

Other random facts: Having numbers written all over my arms and legs makes me feel extremely cool. Because of that, I think I shall do another triathlon some time.

I got home from the race and was like "Oh ya I'm still training for a marathon" and realized I was scheduled for 8 miles today, so I packed a quick 5 around the park. Now my legs are dead, and there is currently an ice pack upstairs calling my name.

I'm so glad that one dreary day this past March/April, as I was lamenting being unable to run due to that stupid stress fracture, I made the decision to sign up for a tri. At the time August seemed years away. But here we are, and I'm pretty stoked to be able to add the honor of triathlete onto my athletic resume. More to come there, I'm sure of it.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, and did something active as well. I made a point on the last mile of my race today to reflect on how grateful I am to have a body that allows me to compete, and soak in the joys of life while doing it. I recommend doing the same in areas of life you are grateful for.

Cheers!!

Snapshots

My new favorite place to write by far is up on my rooftop deck. No matter how hot it may be, the breeze up here always makes it bearable. Nothin' like soaking up some sun while writing my afternoon away.

I realized recently that we are already halfway through July. In my mind, that's halfway through summer. So this weekend I tried my best to capture a few artsy pics of the sweet summer memories that we made. Friday we spent time at a coworker's house down on the water, and it was absolutely beautiful. Last evening was more time on my deck - no surprise there.

My wonderful Aunt surprised me with a giraffe windmill decoration for our new place last time I was home, and I finally got it set up yesterday. It definitely adds to the experience of our deck; everyone loved it!

Have you guys tried those Chobani Bites? They are smaller than your average Chobani greek yogurt, and have a pretty cool variety of flavors. I bought a four pack last week....

And of course I had to add an extra kick for my mid-afternoon boost at work. I'm a fan.

I stole another workout from Brooke - this is becoming a common theme - as my Friday morning run had to get postponed due to thunderstorms.

For time:
-80 situps
-70 air squats
-60 mountain climbers
-50 burpees
-40 jump squats (I did jumping lunges instead)
-30 hollow rocks
-20 push ups
-10 burpees

 The above workout took just over 20 minutes, and was a nice little sweat to start off the weekend right.

This made me laugh... especially as I'm a little upset tomorrow's already Monday. After a four-day weekend last week, two days just doesn't seem long enough. Favorite part of my day so far today? 7 miles in the park was nice, but I was pretty pumped to be able to ride my bike down to Safeway to grab some groceries this afternoon.

Save that environment. Save that gas.

I need to shower, I smell. This has been a lot of fun. Tell me either 1. your favorite Chobani flavor or 2. your favorite part of your day so far.

Cheers!

50 for 50

So, tomorrow’s the 4^th. The good ole’ Fourth of July; celebrating our beautiful country.

taken on my bike ride this morning. yes, bike ride.

What’s that? I haven’t shared my July goals with you guys yet? How inconsiderate of me.

Let me start with my short term one – it’s a one week challenge I decided to throw at myself in honor of our country, and each of our 50 states. I decided to run/bike one mile for each one of those states this week. Even the states I hate, like Nebraska. (sorry Nebraskans, nothing against you guys... just route 80)

Source

Or the hood life? You choose.

50 states = 50 miles. Originally I played with the thought of just running 50 miles this week. But I realized that jumping from about 30 miles (on average) a week to a random 50 may make my foot extremely angry at me. So I decided 15 of those miles can be on my bike. 9 of those bike miles were already used up this morning, on my quick little sunrise ride.

me being unhappy about waking up at 5:30.

So that already puts me at 20 miles for the week; only 30 to go! No cheating, I promise.

I’ve found it’s better for me to keep it simple when it comes to goals. Not make a list of 46 things I want to complete for the month, then epically fail and feel bad about myself. JUNE goals went well. I successfully drank a green smoothie EVERY day of June. However… I probably only foam rolled for about half the month and then got bored/distracted/busy/lazy. You win some you lose some; I’ll keep working on that.

Goal #1 for July: I’ve decided to once again pair up with Run to the Finish and try out her 30 day Ab Challenge. Each day a new workout is posted on Youtube via Strong Like Susan, and so it will be super easy to follow along. 

click here

Goal #2 for July: Incorporate a little more green into my life once again. Green tea that is.  Coffee’s been my go-to lately, but I’m going to switch that out for green tea at least twice a week, and try to pump up the antioxidant count.

yum!? not really.

That’s it on the goal side of things, but hold on, wait, don’t stop reading! I have an EPIC oatmeal recipe to share with you; it may be just what you need to start off your 4^th tomorrow morning...

Peach Cobbler Oatmeal

• 1/2 - 2/3 cup raw oats
• Handful of Flax seed/chia seeds (fiber) - optional
• 1 TB Cinnamon
• 1 TB vanilla
• 1 TB dried unsweetened coconut (optional)
• 1 sliced peach
• 1-2 TB liquid egg whites (optional protein)

 Throw it all in a microwave safe bowl. Cover oats completely with vanilla almond milk, or any other kind of milk you may have on hand.

Microwave 2-3 mins until it has solidified. Sprinkle a handful of crushed bran cereal (fiber 1, bran flakes etc) on top, and drizzle a little agave/maple syrup to sweeten it up.

Now if you don’t love that, you can slap me in the face and call me Sally.

Enjoy your Tuesday, and stay tuned – there will be a special 4^th of July edition of Weird Wednesdays tomorrow. Let’s just say, it has to do with baton twirling.

Blah.

If I had to pick a word to describe the weekend, I would probably sum it up with 'blah.'

via Pinterest

Not that the weekend itself sucked... I was just feeling very blah. And honestly I can't lay my finger on why. 

Saturday morning started off with a breakfast burrito on the patio of Qdoba. (they have whole wheat tortillas now - woot woot!) The weekend as a whole provided BEAUTIFUL weather and Andrew and I took the morning to indulge in a delicious breakfast while soaking up the sun. Following breakfast was my first bike ride of 2012 now that I have my bike back! I was pretty stoked to say the least. My butt wasn't quite as happy come Sunday.

Beth (my bike) & Me

Sunday we went to church, followed by… not much. I ran, did some grocery shopping and caught some rays. I’ve fallen into a funk of getting sad on Sunday evenings. It may be the end of weekends... I’m not really sure, but it’s a trend Andrew has picked up on. Which is why he provided me with a little treat when I stopped by his house last night to watch the Heat vs. Celtics game with him. (For the record, Celtics all the way.)

I'm a child.

In other news, I have slowly been reading through the book “Drop Dead Healthy” by A.J. Jacobs. In short, it’s about a pretty unhealthy dude who decides he wants to become the healthiest guy… ever. In the process he researches just about every health/fitness trend out there, from the different diets (Atkins, Paleo) to a variety of workouts, to things you normally wouldn’t think of (wearing noise cancelling headphones, peeing while squatting vs. sitting, etc.)

All in all, it’s hilarious. But it’s also incredibly informative, as his entire quest to become healthy is backed by research and professionals within their specific fields. I’m about 2/3 of the way through, and hope to finish it this coming weekend. If you have any interest in this topic, it’s a very light read, and an entertaining way to learn.

Anyways, I plan on taking this week from blah to brilliant, because blah is a very boring place to be. Any suggestions?

via Pinterest

Cheers!