Weekly Wrap Up

The week of June 17 - June 23.

Weekly Workout Summary
Monday: REST. Trying out rest days on Mondays lately. I typically have a harder time sleeping on Sunday nights, so getting up in the morning for a workout isn't ideal. And Mondays are always long days at work, right?

Tuesday: 4 mi @ 10:39. Outside in the morning. Not as bad as the morning has felt lately--not sure what was different? I wasn't as humid, and I think I wasn't as hungry.

Wednesday: 3.3 mi @ 10:34 on the treadmill. I did a normal-ish treadmill pace with six sprints thrown in. Followed by a strength workout--some at the gym, some bodyweight exercises with Dan once I got back!

Thursday: 60 minutes power vinyasa yoga in the park! That location near me that does the free Sunday morning yoga is starting a Thursday evening session too. It was so awesome--teachers from one of my favorite studios, really good, athletic flow, and a beautiful outdoors setting. Excited to go to this throughout the summer!

Yes I got up after class and took a picture. So cool.

Friday: 4.3 mi @ 10:37. Outside after work. It was warm out (~80*) but not as humid as it could have been, so this actually wasn't so bad.

Saturday: At-home strength session + 30 minutes yoga for runners from Yogadownload. I did another at-home strength session with Dan--I'm liking these! (Though I do know I should keep up heavy, in-the-gym lifting as well). We're doing something loosely modeled after the NYT seven minute workout.

Sunday: 5 mi @ 10:43 on the treadmill. I cut my long run short since this was the first week I returned to 4x per week of running since the end of April (!). So I didn't want to push myself too fast/increase my mileage too much.

Weekly mileage: 16.6 miles.

Felt pretty good about my workouts this week. Hoping to stick with the 4x a week running going forward--I know from past experience that it really does make a difference in my running!

Notable Eats
Nothing super exciting on the eating front during the week--lots of eggs for dinner. Here's a lunch of the week:

Salad with edamame, avocado, and blue cheese; whole wheat English muffin with cottage cheese

Dan and I did one of our wine and cheese nights on Saturday night. We do these probably too much, but whatever, they are delicious and awesome. The spread!:

I was particularly proud of that Caprese salad featured in the front. Made with basil grown on the porch! (attempt #2).

My plate:

Whiskey ginger in the background.  Toes in the foreground.

Life Events
Not a ton on this front. Had another low-key weekend, though not quite as purely fun as last weekend was. Started watching Scandal, which was a mistake. Though it is the perfect summer show--kind of campy, intriguing, and very addictive!

This week I need to start to get serious about doing a self-study economics class to prep for grad school in the fall. The summer is already starting to get away from me!

Weekly Wrap Up

Trying to get back into this whole blogging thing...a belated weekly wrap-up of life events from last week! (June 10 - June 16).

Weekly Workout Summary

Monday: 30 min power vinyasa yoga podcast at home (from Yogadownload.com).

Tuesday: Rest.

Wednesday: 3.7 mi @ 11:06 pace. Outside in the morning. Struggling to get outside for my runs recently, so I was glad I got out there, even if it was slow.

Thursday: Rest.

Friday: 3.5 mi @ 10:45 pace on the treadmill in the AM. Followed by a strength session.

Saturday: 60 minute detox flow yoga at home (again Yogadownload.com. Bought a subscription recently--thoughts to come!). This was a really good sweaty flow.

Sunday: 6.2 mi @ 10:48...on the treadmill. Woomp woomp. And honestly, this makes 3/4 of my last "long" runs that I've done on the 'mill. Not ideal. I just don't do well in the heat/humidity and just refuse on principle to run in the rain. Snow and cold? Sure. But rain is miserable and so is the mugginess. Maybe if I was training for something it'd be a different story, but for now, this works!

Not my best week, but fairly typical as of late. Just having a hard time getting motivated lately to really push-push-push every day. But I am pleased I'm getting in some morning workouts!

Notable Eats

Dan and I did loaded baked potatoes for the week--cooked up a bunch on Sunday and ate them all week long. I made tempeh to go along with it (Dan did BBQ pork). Really tasty!

Please note that those chives are from my haven't-killed-it-yet chive plant on the porch.
Coughdon'taskaboutthebasil.

Saturday's eats were quite notable as well, as featured below!

Life Events

Saturday featured pretty much all my favorite things in life: the farmers' market, the pool, finishing a good book, date night with Dan, and way too many desserts.

I visited the Falls Church farmers' market for the first time--oh man, was it awesome. I had only been to other local smaller markets, but this is the real star of the show in NoVA.

Also, there were fresh, made-right-in-front-of-you doughnuts. Amazing.

With a toppings bar to boot. Oh hello caramel. 

Here's my haul--not a ton, but a lot of veggies and some eggs and cheese! It appears that berries aren't quite in season here yet--only saw one or two vendors with them and they were pricey. I'm hoping it is the case that they aren't quite here yet...hoping I didn't miss the season!

For lunch I cooked up some farm fresh eggs. It was crazy how orange the yolks were.

And the afternoon featured lots of pool laziness, reading on the porch, and sweating it out with that 60 min detox flow referenced above. Awesome afternoon!

Porch chair boat. Please excuse the extremely dorky PJ shorts with words on them.

Topped with an equally amazing night. Went out to dinner at the new(ish) Matchbox in Merrifield. Dan and I had gone once before and loved it just as much this second time. Just a really nice relaxing date night featuring delicious food!

Eager beaver.

Handsome date!

Why yes, we did share that dessert trio featured in the bottom right.
Yes, it features more doughnuts.
No, I don't want to talk about how many doughnuts I had that day. 

I told Dan at the end of the day that it seriously felt like my birthday. It was a day full of relaxing things I love and delicious eats.  Great Saturday!

Weekly Wrap Up

General summary of life happenings from last week (April 22 - April 28).

Weekly Workout Summary
Monday: REST.

Tuesday: 5 mi @ 10:39. This run felt good--my body felt so stiff from sitting so much at work.

Wednesday: 60 minute hot power vinyasa. Instead of my normal 90 minute class, I went to the studio's 60 minute "power hour" class that starts later (the idea being that those that work later can still make an abbreviated class). I definitely will be back--it's a nice alternative when I can't get out on time.

Thursday: 3.5 mi @ 10:21. Got home from work late and didn't want to do my strength training after, so I bailed. Not good!

Friday: REST.

Saturday: 6.5 mi @ 10:45. I feel like I'm getting slower, but I think I just have bad perspective. More on that soon.

Sunday: 3.5 mi on the treadmill. I tried out some HIIT as my "speed work" for the week. I came across this post when looking into HIIT a while ago, and basically used SUAR's workout modified for a slowpoke like me. It looked like: .5 mile warm up @ 5.2 mph; 60 seconds @ 7.1 mph, 90 seconds @ 5.2 mph, repeat 5 times; 60 seconds @ 7.3 mph, 90 seconds @ 5.2 mph, repeat 5 times; cool down @ 5.4 mph. [I think I could go a little faster next time, but I didn't want to kill myself the first time trying it.] Then I followed it up with a longer strength routine. Really good workout!

Weekly mileage: 18.5 miles

Non-plan plan assessment: Missed one strength workout, but I'll take it! I worked fairly long hours this week, so I was thrilled to fit in most of my workouts.

Notable Eats
See above reference to work schedule--not much notable here. Also, they were providing lunch for us everyday (since we were doing long days and were working through lunch). I tried to make healthy choices when available, but since I normally rely on my lunch to be my healthiest meal of the day (big salad + carb, usually), this threw me off a bit. Plus, they made lots of snacks available--and clearly chocolate was the one I reached for the most. Fail! This week (since the "big work thing" is going on for two more weeks, at least) I'm vowing to pack my lunch some days and stick to my own snacks (for the most part). I definitely feel better when I eat better, so I just need to remember that in the moment when chocolate feels like the perfect remedy to a particularly tough area.

Life Events
The aforementioned work ruled the week, unfortunately. But! Saturday did bring a fun event by way of Great Grapes Wine Festival in Reston, VA. We met up with Dan's sister, brother-in-law, baby (!), and some of their friends. Lots of fun was had by all!

But pictures were only had by Dan and I.

The event featured wine from Virginia wineries. I don't know much about Virginia wines (even still) and have negative 7 to offer in terms of intelligent oenophile discourse, but we tried a few tasty varieties. I would recommend all the wineries featured in the photo below, Williamsburg Winery especially (and they were inexpensive too! We went home with three bottles from them).

Thank you to Dan, my hand model in the upper right.

Definitely a great way to spend a Saturday.

Recreating this fantastic photo op.
Actually no we weren't. This is just my go to pose. Awesome!

Weekly Wrap Up

General summary of life happenings from last week (April 15 - April 21).

Weekly Workout Summary

Monday: 5 mi @ 10:35. I remember zero details about this run. 

Tuesday: REST.

Wednesday: 4.5 mi @ 10:35.

Thursday: 60 min vinyasa yoga - went to a fun yoga event put on by my local Lululemon. Details below!

Friday: 3.5 mi on the treadmill at the gym - included 3x800 stretches at 6.2 mph. Then I did a strength training session--which made me so embarrassingly sore for how easy it was. Need to stick with it!

Saturday: REST. I was at work for a while, boo.

Sunday: 7 mi @ 10:42. Though I had to break it up a bit with a pit stop at the local high school for a bathroom break. No fun. Then in the evening, Dan and I went for a ~30 minute walk! This was really nice and something we want to start doing more frequently. 

Weekly mileage: 20 miles. 

How'd I do according to the new non-plan plan? Pretty good--missed one strength training session. And the particular yoga I went to wasn't heated/vigorous, but it was a nice stretch. 

Notable Eats

Dan and I went out for a "fast casual" dinner on Tuesday night at Cava Mezze Grill. I got a delicious rice bowl w/ falafel and a gazillion awesome veggie toppings and spreads. So good.

That pink stuff is pickled onion. Be still my heart.

Boring weeknight meal that can be made in five minutes flat, check:

Put bread in toaster, stick (already cut up) green beans in microwave, scramble eggs. Done.

Slightly less boring weeknight meal. I tried making some roasted chickpeas with leftovers I had from salads, thinking meh at least I'll use them up. Wow was I wrong--these were so good! Just olive oil, salt, chile powder, and paprika--toss them in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes. Definitely worth trying.

Plus sweet potatoes with sunflower butter + green beans. Can you guess what my veggie of the week was?

Dan and I did one of our at-home date nights on Saturday, which is really just an excuse for us to buy cheese/fancy meats (for him) and drink. Winning. Featuring cheese and breads, carrots + hummus, and berries. With a whiskey ginger off to the side.

Clearly the second plate feature more cheese, less produce.

Weekly events

As I mentioned above, I went to the "Om in the Sun" event put on by my local Lululemon on Thursday. 

Oh look whose picture they used again. 

It was a lot of fun! Not the most vigorous practice in the world, but certainly started to work up a sweat and a fun social activity. I met some new girls in my neighborhood, so that's always good! [Though, sidebar: at the beginning it felt like just a giant Lululemon employees gathering. They came from ALL OVER the DC area, not just the local store, and I felt a little weird that I didn't work for them! But then after it was clear there were others that participated too].

At the end of the session- namaste - Source: Lululemon Tyson's Facebook page.
I'm in the purple in the super distance!

And then after two local food places, Sweetgreen and Cava, fed us with quite the spread of eats! Tasty.

Sweetgreen juices (so good), dips and wraps, and a make-your-own granola bar!
Photos taken after the food was pillaged by hungry yogis.

Weekly Wrap Up

I meant to post this on Monday, but obviously got caught up in the coverage of Boston. I don’t have too much to say about it that hasn’t been already said more eloquently elsewhere re: general sadness/anger at what happened, the effects on the running community, and the gratitude for spectators. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families.

I want to be better about documenting my eats, workouts, and fun events here regularly, so I’m going to try to start making this a weekly feature!

Weekly Workout Summary: April 8 - April 14
Recovery week from the 10-miler! I took it pretty easy.

Monday: 35 minutes on the elliptical plus some light upper/core strength. I thought this workout would help me “shake out” my legs, but I don’t really think it helped and probably made me feel more sore the next day! Should have been a rest day.

Tuesday: 3.3 mi @ 10:40. This felt ROUGH. It was unbearably hot out (upper 80s), and my legs were still really tired from Sunday’s race.

Wednesday: 90 min hot power vinyasa yoga. Oh dear god was it hot. It was 90 degrees outside--and the studio was way hotter. Truly drenched when I left.

Thursday: OFF. Went to a coworker’s apartment for a fun event!

Friday: OFF. Spent the bulk of the day at my (likely!) future grad school!

Saturday: 6.5 mi @ 10:40. First couple of miles were a little ploddy, but after that things felt good.

Sunday:  60 min outdoor yoga class! That new-ish shopping area near me started offering free weekly outdoor yoga classes like they did last fall. It was a nice, easy class--a blend of hatha and light vinyasa.

Damn, that girl on the end in the lavender top has a really nice butt...

Source for the picture: Mosaic District Twitter feed. I’m pretty sure that picture was taken last fall and that is yours truly on the end in the back. I was looking at it and like...hey, I have those tops. And that brown curly ponytail. And that yoga mat. That’s me!

Weekly mileage: 9.8 miles. Heh, I ran more than that in one day last week!

Notable eats
I really eat a lot of the same things over and over, but I’ll try to feature a few meals here a week.

I'm a fantastic food photographer; I know. I call this: Cheesy Bread Phallus Plate.

I’m sure you’ve seen this method featured on Pinterest--well I will attest to the fact that it works! I’ve made it a few times, and it is definitely tasty and a cute presentation. This was pretty basic interpretation of it: 3 eggs, 3 TBSP cream, shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 1/3 of a 8 oz. block?), salt, and chives. I used a regular baguette cut in half (with a little saved on the side) to make two servings.

Dan's all cut up (because, full disclosure, some of mine fell apart)

Notable life events:
The aforementioned visit day at *future grad school*! Really starting to look forward to next year, instead of just feeling constantly panicked. Once I put my name on the dotted line, I’ll discuss this more openly!

Going with Dan to get the supplies for a mini balcony herb garden! Well right now it is really just an herb, not an herb garden--Home Depot’s herb selection was picked over, so we didn’t find everything we wanted. We’re working on getting it filled in this week!

Single, sad herb.