sidebar | life and training 2.10 – 2.16

I avoided The Sickness once, and I guess the second time it was to get the best of me.

After the wedding at the close of January, near everyone attending apparently came down with some sort of illness. I fought whatever it was off for a couple days but didn’t get overwhelmed by symptoms. This time, though, a stupid little rhinovirus caught hold and now I sound like someone’s constantly pinching my nose. And my ear’s all clogged up. Joy.

Just a little fun fact to start off the new week and close out the old.

I’m working towards rebuilding my mileage after last Sunday’s half marathon, and this first week went nicely. I don’t plan to leap into any formal workouts even this coming week – and especially now since The Sniffles dominate my noggen – just a steady creep up to a good base mileage that I can maintain until I decide on my next foray. I’m also focused more on strength training. I miss being muscular, but since my body is tuned to build and bulk more than it is to be slim and trim (may be surprising to you, but I’m a much more efficient sprinter/power athlete than I am endurance athlete!) I’m sure that as long as I’m consistent, the gainz will begin to show.

I sort of meddled around with this and that throughout the week. Lots of reading, some cleaning, a therapy session…really, not too much exciting overall. Saving money has put a bit of a damper on my adventurous side, but it’s a necessary evil right now so I’m trying to embrace the simplicity behind it rather than mourn my lack of spontaneity.

On Valentine’s Day, though, I did take Little Miss Ba out for a little date! I initially wanted to roam over to Willa’s, but whenever I try to go there’s always some kind of snafu with the plan: a private event, an early closing, a fucking market, whathaveyou. So, I moseyed down to Oxford Exchange and was surprised and delighted to find them featuring a red velvet flavor – so, a soy red velvet cappuccino and a massive muffin it was. Spent an hour or so people watching, sipping, and drawing, with my tiny sheep friend observing her surrounds as well.

Saturday I went out to Three Birds Tavern as a late celebration for my half marathon. The space is endearing, with a large surface-level patio lit by fairy strands and a wraparound porch with booths and a quaint little bar area. I got a paloma (a little too sour for my liking), and a giant Beyond burger with swiss cheese, tzatziki, hummus, and veg, with a side of fucking dope crispy fries. It was a warm, lovely evening, with a gentle breeze, perfect for patio dining.

Sunday was slow, as Sundays should be. I gave myself a little spa morning with an everything shower, then drove over to mom’s for snacks and chats. By evening I was really starting to feel The Sniffles crawl in, but I managed to give Roly Poly her spa night between the rain clouds that filtered in throughout the late afternoon. Someone was hogging the wash stall at my complex, so I went the ole fashioned route and dumped buckets of water on her to rinse. Ergonomic? No. But it worked.

I’m probably going to throw down some cold medicine today and try to get my recipe done at least, before piling into a useless heap and napping. Mondays are grocery shopping days and one of my goals, in order to support businesses that treat their employees decently, is to swap out a Target Day each month for a Trader Joes outing. I’m not sure if that’ll REALLY help me save money, cos TJs always boasts fun shit on their shelves…Ah well.

Take care, peeps. Hope your immune systems are primed to smack any sickies in the face before they can catch hold! And if they do, arm yourself with tea, broth, and lots of comfy pillows and stuffed friends.

The Fuck We Cooking This Week?

…A light and springy sheetpan salmon!

…A pretty, sweet coffee drink.

A Few Things I’m Digging

Strawberries…Berry season is nigh and strawberries are not only cheap lately, but they’re so wonderfully sweet. There’ll be many strawberry recipes a-coming but these Roasted Honey Bourbon Strawberry Crostini and Strawberry White Hot Chocolate are a lovely place to start!

Baked pasta…In order to solidify my meal prep mentality, baked pasta dishes – usually pretty cheese-laden – are atop my current repertoire. I made a rudimentary chili mac last week that I might codify eventually, but some of my favorite FMG mainstays: One Pot Cheesy Baked Pizza Pasta, Baked Pesto Alla Vodka Rigatoni, and No-Boil Spinach Artichoke Mac N’ Cheese.

Spring Wardrobe Edit

Each year I *try* to make it a goal to dress a little more intentionally – though my style is simple anyway, it’s hard to resist the temptation to leap into pjs the minute I trounce home from work. Here’s some easy and (I think) relatively fashionable ideas for freshening up my wardrobe this season.

Shops & Wish List

Amazon cart…Bought some new work shoes since mine are about 4 years old and the soles are quite literally detaching… Trying this Advion gel bait since I’m getting a lot of VERY unwelcome pests in my house lately. Grabbed this adorable vintage-style floral cardigan (so soft) and two books: Kinth by Thomas Finley (reading now, it sucks so I will definitely be returning) and A Court of Wings and Ruin.

Honey Stinger…I NEED to try their new peanut butter waffles. I snack on these many mornings (especially after longer or harder sessions) and the fact that they’ve integrated nut butter into their already-fabulous formulas just seals the deal for me.

Week in Training

Monday, 2.10: 3.5 miles, 11:24 pace

Easy easy old man jog to flush out the legs and get the blood flowing. No intended fitness maintenance or anything here: this run was purely to evaluate how I was feeling. My legs are very stiff and sleepy, my hamstrings and right hip being the most prominent barkers. Plan is to take the next couple days off and reevaluate Thursday!

Tuesday, 2.11: 4 mile walk (1:04:48)

Wednesday, 2.12: 4 mile walk (1:05:35) + 22 minute back & biceps

Back to some formality in my training, and it felt good! Going to keep to my 4x per week gym routines with hopefully some heavier lifts in my near future.

Strength:

• 3 x 8 ea. single arm row 35#
• 3 x 8 waiter curl 25#
• 4 x 8 mid row 60#
• 4 x 6 ea. incline curl 15#
• 3 x 10 upright row 20#
• Core work

Thursday, 2.13: 4 miles, 11:06 pace + 22 minute leg day

Yay run! It was so sticky and nasty out – I don’t think my body was ready for that. Otherwise the run felt good and it was nice to get back into my trainers!

Strength:

• 3 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 50#
• 3 x 10 hip thrust 60#
• 2 x 10 alt. front lunge 50#
• 3 x 10 diamond squat 50#
• 3 x 8 ea. single leg press 100#
• core work

Friday, 2.14: 4 mile walk (1:04:58) + 20 minute chest & tris

Taking a day off again before tomorrow’s “long run”!

Strength:

• 3 x 10 incline press 20#
• 1 x 6/2 x 8 Arnold 20/15#
• 3 x 8 triceps pushdown 32#
• 4 x 6 bench press 60#
• 3 x 15 triceps dip
• Core work

Saturday, 2.15: 6 miles, 11:03 pace

Heart rate is still elevated while running and my pace is slower, but this felt quite good overall! Happy to get a slightly longer session in.

Sunday, 2.16: 3.5 miles, 10:51 pace

Very blustery morning; we’ve a cold front soaring in this week, which will be a nice relief, and these 20+ mph winds must’ve been the precusor.

Total running mileage: 17 miles