Sunday stuff! (or fun in the park and a little bit of food prep)

Hello, hello!

I know I said I was back last week but, apparently, I wasn’t ready. I needed a little bit more time to focus inward and just be.

It was definitely a needed break!

What really made things better was having Thing 1 come home for a few days.

It was really nice to have her home. I mean, the last time I saw her was in May!!

We hung out, we went shopping, we dined on Chipotle….. #winning

We also went out for a little photo shoot in the park with our favorite photographer. ❤

More pictures to come later!

Oh, look, there’s a wall over there! I must practice my handstands! #crossfitaddict

 

There may or may not have also been some planking and some push ups. 🙂

Then, I got down to business with my Sunday food prep.

Which, honestly, wasn’t as much as normal.  There’s some travelling going on this week and a little bit of extra time at home (don’t forget to thank a veteran!) so I didn’t need as much prepared food in the fridge.

I do, however, need to go to the grocery store because I went to make some quinoa for quick, healthy breakfasts and the box was pretty darned empty. 😦

I only got enough quinoa to try this recipe once this week.

Then, I made a loaf of sandwich bread, perfect for toast and, well, sandwiches. 😉

Apparently, the yeast were (hyper)active and the bread hit a growth spurt in the oven. #milehighbread

Then, for dinner, I was craving some comfort food so I made some Skinny Shepherd’s Pie. YUM!

The best part is the leftovers!

And today, there’s a pork butt in my crockpot and its destiny is to become carnitas tacos for dinner. Stay tuned for the recipe!

So, want to know what happens when you take a little bit of time off from blogging?

180 spam comments in the queue, that’s what.

180.

One hundred. And. Eighty.

Seriously.

The best one?

“staples”

Really. That’s all the comment was.

Maybe they thought my Cinnamon Buns should be a staple in all households?

Well, that spam bot is right! 😉

Talk to me: What’s your favorite way to use quinoa? What’s your favorite comfort food?

– jennifer

50k training – week 5 recap

Hello!

Finished up week 5 of my 50k training and I’ll be honest – I’m really happy that it’s over.

I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of my weekend and letting my body rest and recharge. It’s been one helluva week.

Monday

Track work! I had mile repeats (3×1600) in 7:24 on the schedule. Waking up was definitely a difficult thing to do this morning. I did NOT want to get out of bed at all. I briefly tried to justify skipping the workout but I didn’t have any good reasons so, off to the track I went.

At least I was graced with another beautiful morning!

Did one mile warm-up and got to work on my repeats. My times were 7:19, 7:22, and 7:23. I tried to run more by feel than my watch (although, I did check my watch for pace every 800m or so) and I did pretty well. I was pretty tired by the last one so I was really thankful that I only had to do 3. Finished up with an easy one mile cool-down jog, stretched, and headed into the locker room. 🙂

Monday was a double so, after work, I headed to the 6pm CrossFit class.

I’m really starting to like this group. I still miss my 4pm buddies but I’m making some new friends and having a good time.

We started off the workout with some double unders. Apparently, we were, in 10 minutes, supposed to do 50 unbroken, breathe, 40 unbroken, breathe, 30 unbroken, breathe, 20 unbroken, breathe, 10 unbroken, finish.

Yeah. Mine looked more like – do 1, miss the next one, reset, do 1, miss the next one, reset, do 1, miss the next one, reset, lather, rinse, repeat.

For 10 stinkin’ minutes.

Then, the AMRAP.

I’m still working on Handstand push-ups so I scaled down to handstand holds (getting better at those!), I scaled the bar muscle-ups to chest-to-bar pull-ups with the purple band, and I scaled the power clean weight to 70#.

I got through either 5 or 6 rounds.

Then, I practiced my handstands a little more. 🙂

 

Tuesday

Tuesday was CrossFit, no running.

We started with front squats, 5 sets of 3 reps.

I got up to 110#! I did 65#, 85#, 95#, 105#, 110#. PR baby!

The WOD was an every minute on the minute WOD and usually I enjoy those. Those toes to bar, though.

I used the 35# kettle bell for the goblet squats. Had a devil of a time holding on to the bar for the toes to bar. Ripped my hands a little but not too badly, thank goodness.

Was graced with more beauty in the sky on my way home. I kinda love it here. 🙂

 

Wednesday

No running, 6pm CrossFit.

This workout was a beast. A serious butt-kicker. When the WOD is running + burpees and the Coach has you warm up with running and burpees, you know you’re in for some hurt.

We started off working up to our 2-rep max push press. I’m can’t really remember what my 1-rep max was before but I’m pretty sure it was around 75# or so. I’d have to grab some old training logs and pray I actually wrote it down somewhere. *note to self – WRITE IT DOWN!!!* Anyway, we warmed up and got started. I successfully did 95# 2 times and loaded 10# more on the bar. I got the first one up but it came down a little funny and when I went up on the second time, Coach said my left knee dropped in and I just couldn’t stick with it. I pushed the bar up but not enough and had to let it go behind me. So, with that, I discovered my new 1-rep max for push press! Whoop!

Then, the WOD. The brutal, awful WOD. I finished in 12:13. The running was the easy part – the burpees, however….. There are reasons people hate burpees – because they’re difficult and they’re a full body-burner. Ugh. But, that which does not kill us….right?

Thursday

Tempo run this morning. It was ridiculously muggy. Blech!

But, it WAS beautiful! Mother Nature’s attempt to make up for the humidity. 🙂

I had 6 miles on the schedule – 2 @ 9:32, 3 @ 7:37, 1 @ 9:32.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. My body said NO pretty loudly. My legs felt like they were full of lead (gee, thanks, last night’s burpees!) and my left hip was super tight for some reason. I actually had to pause a couple of times to try and stretch it out! My first mile was 9:41, 2^nd mile was 9:18, 3^rd was 8:18, 4^th was 7:41 (closer, at least), 5^th at 9:18, 6^th at 9:32. I just didn’t have it at all. I would have pushed the 5^th mile a little more but I figured my body was fighting back for a reason. I didn’t want to risk an injury so I slowed it down. I plan on doing as much stretching as I can today to push the lactic acid through my legs and hopefully loosen up my hip.

This is my trying to pretend I feel good. Am I convincing?

 

Friday

6pm CrossFit.

I played hooky. It is what it is. I was tired and really needed the break. Plus, I didn’t want to aggravate whatever may have been going on with my hip/groin area and make a long run on Saturday even more difficult. It’s okay. It’s all part of the plan – I have to listen – and PAY ATTENTION – to my body. Injuries are not an option.

Saturday

Good morning!

Long run today. I had 18 miles at 9:34 on the schedule.

I honestly wasn’t sure how that was going to go given the week that I had but I still wanted to get out the door and cover some miles.

Thankfully, I didn’t see any bears!

I adjusted my route a little because I was nervous but I still ran in the park. I just kept my eyes – and ears  – peeled for any signs of a bear.

I got spooked by a couple of runners who came up behind me just past the spot I first saw the bear but I survived. I only jumped a couple of feet in the air. 😉

I saw more darn dogs off leash and roaming the neighborhoods this morning than I have in a while. I’ve been bitten by a dog before so I tend to steer clear of any dog that’s not on a leash or behind a fence that is barking at me. Of course, that means my route had to be adjusted on the fly a few times today.

Seriously people, either put up a fence or be outside with your dogs!!

I had to stop once around mile 12 to massage my foot and my tummy was pretty disagreeable so I didn’t manage the full 18.

I did get 15 miles done and my pace was okay, even for my tummy issues.

I didn’t really do anything different food-wise the past few days so I’m not sure what caused the distress.

I had no issues with my hip so resting on Friday definitely helped whatever that was.

Even my Garmin thought it was muggy!

So, all in all, week 5 wasn’t the success that I wanted it to be but I did have some good moments.

I think I was carried by the adrenaline of seeing the bear and telling my story during the first part of the week and then, I crashed in the 2nd half.

It’s okay, though. It’s only week 5 of a 16 week plan and I still pulled out some good mileage for my long run.

My plan for the rest of the weekend is to rest, replenish, and rejuvenate.

Watch out, week 6 – I’m coming for ya!

Talk to me: How do you handle “off” training weeks? What’s your favorite way to recuperate after a tough long run?

Handstands are hard, fartleks are fun, and curry is YUM!

Hi there!

Could this week BE going any slower?

Seriously, it feels like it should be Thursday.

*sidebar* Remember this one? Haha!

Okay, sorry, got distracted.

I’m kind of in a mood today.

Not bad, not good just … a mood.

It’s cold, there’s a blend of snow/rain spitting out of the sky every so often and this week is dragging. Gah!

Anywho, I’m looking forward to CrossFit tonight.

We’re doing Helen!

I love benchmark WODs. It’ll be great for me to see where I’m at now so I know where I need improvement. Because, let me tell you, I need some improvement.

(For an explanation of the named WODs, check this out. Go to section 4.1 for the girls.)

Monday’s WOD was a toughie.

Especially since we started off with front squats and back squats for Strength work.

Oof.

As I’ve mentioned before, this box is small and there are only 4 barbell racks. So, we were sharing. Which I really liked because I like having a “partner” there to boost my confidence.

Except for when my partner is a total badass chick and we have to take weight off just so I can do mine.

No, seriously. I didn’t mind. One day, I hope to push around that much weight!

Anyway, I managed 95# which I was TOTALLY stoked with!

Then, I knocked out the deadlifts at 115#. My PR was 125# before we moved and I wasn’t operating at my one rep max so I felt like 115# was pretty awesome.

And then, the WOD. Which involved handstand walks. Which I can’t do. At all.

I can’t even do a handstand.

So, to modify, I basically walked backwards up the wall and tried to hold a handstand for a minute. Yes, it sounds weird. And yes, it is very, very difficult.

4 rounds of that had my shoulders begging for mercy.

Add in kettlebell snatches – coach wisely dropped the overhead squat part since we were ALL wonky with that one – and I’m surprised I can lift my arms.

I ended up with 87 total kettlebell snatches (used 26# KB) and 27 toes to bar and 18 abmat situps (coach had us all drop to the floor for the 4th round).

And, I’m heading in to the box a little early tonight for some one-on-one coaching on that handstand.

It will not beat me. 🙂

Yesterday was a run day. It was actually pretty awesome. I did have 6x800s to do but my body is still adjusting to the extra bidness of CrossFit so I just went out for a run.

Okay, I kept a quick-ish pace (faster than marathon) for 3 miles and then did 1 1/2 miles of fartleks/strides. Finished up with a little over a mile back at the quick-ish pace.

It actually felt pretty good!

The best part?

Crockpot Brazilian Curry Chicken for dinner.

Boom!

Talk to me: Is this week dragging for you? Are you looking forward to the weekend?

– jennifer