sidebar | life and training 5.9 – 5.15

What’s up nerds? I feel like this week was pretty uneventful, quite ordinary, nothing special. That’s okay sometimes, though. Kind of my first week swinging into a proper routine since vacation and I think I adjusted pretty quickly – though I usually do since by the time vacation ends, I’m fairly ready to get back into a homebody groove.

Two nice things happened, though. For one, I visited my old aquatic stomping ground for a swim on Thursday, my first since November. It was lovely to waltz in and see two of my lifeguard pals and get a quiet, albeit very difficult, splash in. I hope to make it to the pool twice a week, more if I really feel like it and have time.

On Saturday, J and I baked homemade ciabatta and took our winnings to a park nearby for a picnic. We layered on heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil from the balcony for a nice little MTB fixture. It was a lovely, breezy evening with a gorgeous sunset glow. Though, the mood was smacked down a bit when I sliced my foot open on a rock while we shuffled through the shallows. Oh well.

Much as I don’t like summer, I love summer food and how I feel eating a bigger variety of fruits and veggies. I tend to naturally cook lighter when the weather heats up and have so many fun ideas for recipes I’m not even sure where to start with them. It’s been nice, too, to get outside in the evenings a bit more. Midday is too hot and bright to enjoy unless I’m submerged in water, but so long as we have a springtime sea breeze, the less intense UV hours are more than tolerable.

Tell me something cool you did or saw this week?

What I’m Up To This Week

Testing…A fruity summer salad, vegetarian sliders, a refreshing savory bowl, and some cheesy tacos!

Eating…Burrata! I actually never loved burrata before, I found the texture really unappealing, but after creating a warm dish involving the cheese I might be converted. It melts so nicely into hot pasta and lends a cheesiness and a creaminess all at once.

Loving…Fresh basil. May or may not have bought two new basil plants this week, and might buy more. This Basil Mint Julep is a refreshing way to enjoy the herb in cocktail format.

Drinking…Lots of lemon lime Nuun. As the weather heats up I’m finding plain water less satisfying throughout the day, so am reaching more for electrolyte-laden sips.

Buying…All the backdrops from Errer, a company based out of the Netherlands. Their customer service is fantastic and I love all the hues they offer. Can’t wait to work with my newcomers soon.

Registering for…A couple of classes at a local community college. It seems for a lot of MS programs in Nutrition they require certain credits before you can apply which I don’t have from my undergrad. Figured it’s cheaper taking them at a university.

Racing…The Watermelon 5K in June! Can’t say this’ll be a serious race effort but it might be fun to test my fitness if I’m up for a harder session.

Reading…The No Meat Athlete By Matt Frazier. Not a fan so far, I’ll go into it more later though.

A Few Things I’m Digging

Protein cookie…I do sometimes try out the niche-type training products, and I picked up a box of Tone It Up chocolate chip cookies during my last Target run. I appreciate that it’s a brand created by women, and while they obviously aren’t a replacement for a real fat chocolate chip cookie, they do well with a mug of coffee or tea as a midday snack.

Dessert hummus…Shit on a stick, people, Target’s Good and Gather Brownie Batter Hummus is the best chocolate hummus I’ve ever tried. It’s about as close to a rich, fudgy brownie batter as you can get in a concoction made of roasted chickpeas. Love it with fruit or pretzels as a snack to nip my sweet tooth.

Book…Read Killer by Jonathan Kellerman and honestly, I was quite skeptical due to the stock-image cover and the fact that most mystery novels are pretty predictable. Surprised by how much I liked the main character and how thoughtful the plot proved to be. Mom lent me a second one I plan to dive into once I finish the dumpster fire that is No Meat Athlete.

Serum…Bought Ferver’s Hyaluronic Acid Serum the other week and my skin feels ridiculously smooth now. My esthetician in Monterey recommended I try it out for fill in some of the dry spots from my retinol use, and I really think it’s making a difference so far.

Melon…Having a lot of fun with watermelon lately. Try out a Watermelon Cucumber Prosecco Spritz if you’re feeling inspired.

Week in Training

Monday, 5.9: 2.73 miles, 12:25 pace/151 bpm + 55 minute back & biceps

Didn’t feel great during the run portions and took awhile to recovery via walking. Not my best LHR run and I seem to just be getting worse. Had a great strength-based weight day though!

Strength:

• 4 x 6 biceps curl 25#
• 4 x 5 mid row 90#
• 3 x 8 cable hammer curl 41#
• 1 x 6/3 x 8 row 45/40#
• 3 x 10 ea. cross biceps curl 20#
• 3 x 10 lat pulldown 70#
• 3 x 20 dumbbell punches 10#
• 3 x 10 front/back hip circles with band
• 3 x 20 weighted jackknives 8#
• 3 x 25 plank knee taps
• 3 x 12 ea. leg raise side plank hip dips

Tuesday, 5.10: 2.43 miles, 12:20 pace/150 bpm + 1 hour shoulders & triceps

Disappointing run, seems I’m stuck at a 150 average and 12:2x paces. It’s not that I care so much about how slow I have to go, but how I don’t seem to have any downward trend in my heart rate.

Strength:

• 3 x 8 shoulder press 25#
• 4 x 4 chest press 80#
• 4 x 6 triceps press down 41#
• 3 x 8 military press 20#
• 4 x 7 OH triceps extension 40#
• 3 x 10 inclined chest fly 20#
• 3 x 10 pullover 35#
• 3 x 12 bent arm side raise 15#
• 3 x 20 ea. banded knee drives 10#
• 3 x 25 banded knee-outs
• 3 x 20 situp
• 3 x 20 ea. oblique crunch
• 50 flutter kicks/50 scissor kicks/:20 hollow rock

Wednesday, 5.11: 4.41 miles, 12:29 pace/156 bpm + 55 minute strength

Interval day! Performed some very polarized intervals working mostly in low heart rate zone but kicking it up to around 95% effort during the work periods. 5 x 1 minute just letting my legs ride, and I was really surprised by what I ended up with: 6:49, 6:48, 6:36, 6:40, 6:37. 2 minute recoveries in between to sway my heart rate down to below 152, which meant a lot of very slow walking for the most part.

Strength:

• 4 x 6 ea. single leg deadlift 80#
• 4 x 6 ea. single leg extension 70#
• 3 x 10 elevated squat 100#
• 4 x 15 good morning 50#
• 3 x 12 alt curtsy lunge 55#
• 3 x 10 double pulse elevated sumo squat 55#
• 3 x 30 barefoot march 25# OH
• 3 x 12 ea. single leg dumbbell pass 20#
• 3 x 15 knee tuck 15#
• 3 x 20 plank oblique knee taps
• :30 ea. side planks

Thursday, 5.12: 30 minute elliptical + 50 minute back & biceps + 1,200 yard swim (26:29)

I SWAM! I haven’t gone to the pool since November due to a severe lack of motivation to do pretty much anything outside of marathon training – not even that I enjoyed marathon training this time, that was exhausting enough. I finally felt the itch to go back, so I suited up and visited my old stomping ground. Thankfully two of my lifeguard pals still work there and were pretty surprised and happy to see me, which was nice. It was really tough in the water and my endurance is definitely shot, I had to pull many of the intervals, but I was so happy to be back and plan to do a couple days a week again.

Strength:

• 4 x 8 preacher curl 65#
• 4 x 6 lat pulldown 80#
• 3 x 10 pull apart 20#
• 4 x 8 face pull 41#
• 3 x 6 concentration curl 20#
• 3 x 10 kneeling narrow pulldown 66/71#
• 3 x 10 ea. wide curl 20#
• 3 x 12 ball hamstring curl
• 3 x 10 ea. oblique bend 40#
• 3 x 20 reverse tabletops

Friday, 5.13: 17 minute elliptical intervals + 1 hour shoulders & tris + 2.52 miles, 11:55 pace/150 bpm

Didn’t feel like rushing through a run and gym session in the early hours, so I pushed the run to the afternoon and got through my strength early. I threw in a HIIT elliptical workout beforehand, 10 x :30 hard/:30 easy. It was quite tough and I was drenched even after such a short duration. Run felt really nice, though I don’t really expect that pace will stick since I seem to be slightly faster in the afternoon and I near always run in the morning.

Strength:

• 3 x 10 Arnold press 20#
• 4 x 8 ea single arm press down 15/20#
• 4 x 8 bench press 30#
• 3 x 12 shrug 40#
• 3 x 8 narrow press 30#
• 3 x 12 skullcrusher 30#
• 3 x 8 incline bench press 25#
• 3 x 10 ea cross front raise 15#
• 4 x 12 triceps pulse 15#

Saturday, 5.14: 6.06 miles, 12:33 pace/152 bpm + 63 minute leg day

Starting to think Maffetone isn’t working for me. Very annoyed by my lack of progress despite 3 weeks of work. I don’t expect to be fixed (whatever that means) but at least have some observable improvement.

Strength:

• 3 x 10 ea. front elevated bosu lunge 70# (did these barefoot. so hard)
• 3 x 12 sumo deadlift 90# SS 12 plie squat 90#
• 3 x 10 ea. reverse lunge with knee drive 50#
• 3 x 20 calf raise 160#
• 3 x 10 pause squat 50#
• 4 x 15 close-stance leg press 150/160#
• 4 x 10 cable pull thru 45#
• 4 x 12 quad squat
• 3 x 12 deadlift 90#
• 3 x 20 ea. banded lateral knee drive
• 3 x 30 shoulder tap SS 30 knee tap
• 3 x 40 bicycle

Sunday, 5.15: 3.3 mile walk (50:00)

Total running mileage: 18.19