sidebar | life and training 8.14 – 8.20
Happy birthday to mom, happy birthday to mom, happy birthday dear moooom, happy birthday to mom.
The highlight of this past week, undoubtedly, was celebrating mom’s 70th birthday. Seeing as she is not a fancy person (like me), we settled for a fully home cooked lunch at her place to observe this wonderful day, which was Tuesday.
Quite low key, as she likes it. I heated a baguette and whisked up a quick herby olive oil dip as an appetizer, then a simple salad, and for the main cooked a riff of my tomato feta shrimp using mahi instead. Then, naturally, cake, though I bought that at Publix since we’d discussed a couple weeks prior the cake we shared to celebrate moving out when I was 17.
On birthdays I tend to split time between being happy to shroud or be shrouded in love, and sad for the rapid passage of time. One of my friends said that March felt like three weeks ago – and she’s very right. I have no gauge of months and days now (especially when every day is hot as balls) so while as disruption, like a birthday, is a welcome grounding, it’s also jarring to know that yet another year has scooted by with the next no more certain than the last.
Well, all we can do is enjoy the time we have, right? And if nothing else, birthdays are a portent reminder to be present and give love and attention to those who mean the most to us.
My allergies, or something, made a vengeful return over the past weekend. Woke up extremely stuffy and congested on Sunday and my energy basically went to shit. We’d planned to visit a new restaurant nearby but I just could not get the enthusiasm for its rather heavy Creole-style menu, so we opted to stay in, ordered Thai takeout from our favorite haunt, and watched the third Guardians of the Galaxy. I really enjoyed that installment. Equal parts heartwrenching and humorous, and of course the soundtrack was A+.
Still today, Monday, I don’t feel quite right energy-wise, though my run wasn’t unusual as far as its shittiness goes. Kinda always sucks, and probably didn’t suck more than is typical.
Not that ya’ll are invested in my allergy adventures.
We’re weaving into September and I am ready to share some autumn-adjacent foods. According to Instagram, ya’ll seem pretty enthusiastic, too. Baked up my first pumpkin treat that’s locked and loaded for the new month, and I have so many apple and pumpkin recipes in mind I’m practically jumping out of my skin.
Now, to get through the rest of this insane heat together.
Oh, and one final note: for anyone reading from California, I hope ya’ll are safe! I know how scary the idea of landslides is around there, and how realistic that some will occur after the heavy rainfalls from the hurricane. Being a native Floridian, I’m very familiar with the trajectory of these storms, but out there I’d imagine many of you are not as seasoned as far as dealing with their implications go. Sending lots of positive vibes. Drive carefully, take care of your neighbors and friends, and hopefully you’ll not have to deal with something like this for a long time.
And, hopefully, us in the south here won’t either.
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…Chocolate chip scones!
…A feta stuffed crust pizza. Oh yeaaaaah.
…A fun and cheesy kid-friendly pasta.
…A cozy meatball dish that’ll have you craving fall.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Pepperoni…The Field Roast pepperoni is one of the best vegetarian meat dupes I’ve tried. Honestly, all of their plant-based meat products are great, but this one, especially when cooked, is very convincing from a flavor perspective.
Coffee…Picked up this maple bourbon flavor the other week and I quite enjoy it, and especially love how festive my house smells when I come back home from work. A little transition before I break open the pumpkin spice coffee…
Funnies…This, while sad, is also morbidly humorous because it’s true.
Shops & Wish List
Fashion
Target…Liking this knit sweater vest, I think they had something similar last year that I almost grabbed. These leaf earrings are so cute and I love the PSL drop earrings too (yes, I’m a basic white girl at heart), though I’m not sure I’d ever wear the latter.
Home
Target…I don’t care, folks, I’m bring fall into my house early. I own the orange of this pumpkin knit pillow, but I love the green colorway. All of the hues in this washed velvet throw pillow are beautiful but I’m thinking the “orange” or “green” are best for my aesthetic. Definitely picking up a pumpkin ceramic candle or two and these pumpkin votives are precious.
Crate and Barrel… Yo, if you like fuzzy pillows, C&B has you covered. Into this big faux fur pillow, the sheepskin throw pillow and the lumbar version, and why not toss in a cozy cableknit throw while you’re at it.
Week in Training
Monday, 8.14: 4.6 miles, 10:52 pace + 50 minute full body strength
The air was a little less gunky than it was over the weekend – 77 dew point versus the 80s we experienced prior. Today was speed day so I opted for a tempo workout. 2 miles warmup, 1.5 miles at a comfortably hard effort (9:27, then 9:06 for the .5), 1 mile cooldown. I’m not surprised by the 9s for the harder sections, but I’m not mad either. I haven’t performed a tempo run in ages and the effort felt correct, so I did the workout the way I was supposed to, methinks.
Strength:
- 4 x 10 around the world curl 15#
- 4 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 50#
- 4 x 12 ea. chest press 25#
- 4 x 10 ea. seesaw row 25#
- 4 x 8 ea. static lunge 60#
- 4 x 12 side raise 15#
- 10 minute core and mobility
Tuesday, 8.15: 3.36 miles, 11:37 pace + 46 minute upper body
Scootched around my running and lifting schedule a bit to accommodate my changing work landscape: I happen to have today off for my mom’s birthday and don’t have Wednesday, so I figured I’d knock the longer stuff out when I had more time. Okay run, good lift, so not a bad report overall.
Strength:
- 4 x 10 pullover 40#
- 4 x 10 reverse fly 25#
- 4 x 10 ea. skullcrusher 15#
- 3 x 10/1 x 8 ea. balanced upright row 25/30#
- 4 x 10 ea. cross balanced front raise 15#
- 4 x 10 waiter curl 35#
- 10 minutes mobility and core
Wednesday, 8.16: 3.17 miles, 11:27 pace
Storms threatened for the first part of my run (and cooled shit down so I didn’t feel miserable for 5 minutes) but nothing happened, so I managed to get my morning 5k in before an extra early work shift.
Thursday, 8.17: 3.16 mile walk (49:00) + 10 minute mobility
So. Much. Humidity.
Friday, 8.18: 4.48 miles, 11:37 pace
Not a pleasant run, for whatever reason my body just wasn’t working and it felt extra stifling outside. Still got it done, though.
Saturday, 8.19: 7.13 miles, 11:47 pace + 45 minute lower body
Yesterday we discovered two huge knots in my hamstring that are likely causing it to be in pain/spaz out randomly. During work that morning the muscle kept tensing up with no warning and was quite painful. It felt okay today, but the run overall was trash. And I didn’t even get to see a ship! Very sad.
Strength:
- 4 x 10 ea. leg press 120#
- 4 x 10 ea. single leg pass 15#
- 4 x 10 deadlift 90#
- 4 x 12 ea. OH hip drive 20#
- 4 x 12 ea. donkey kick 20#
- 5 x 10 ea. standing hydrant 25#
- 3 x 8 narrow squat 90#
- 5 minute core & mobility work
Sunday, 8.20: 4 mile walk (1:05:00)
Total running mileage: 22.1
