Weekly Review

It's now been more than two weeks that we've been isolating at home.  Things continue to go pretty well though.  I'm still trying to connect with people electronically, and Mike and I are still working from home.  My allergies started acting up this week, makes sense with the warm weather, so not lots of running.  But I hope that can turn around this week.  Here are the details.

Monday - Yoga plus a 30 minute walk

Tuesday - Yoga plus a 2 mile run

Wednesday - 20 minute dance work out and 10 minute strength training from peloton

Thursday - 40 minute walk plus yoga, as well as a virtual happy hour in the evening.

Friday - 30 minute walk plus yoga and game night in the evening.

Saturday - rest day since it was raining.  I did have to leave the house to get allergy medicine but I did my best to practice safe social distancing, not touch my face, and wash my hands as soon as I got back.

Sunday - 40 minute walk, peloton strength training and stretching.  I had a group family facetime chat in the evening and we watched the living room performances from I Heart Radio.

So that was the week.  The allergies made breathing and therefore running difficult but hopefully this week will be a bit better.  Here's the plan for the week.

Monday - Rest Day plus a walk and yoga
Tuesday - 3 easy miles + yoga
Wednesday - Strength training plus a walk
Thursday - 3 easy miles + yoga
Friday - Strength training plus a walk
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - 5 miles

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!

 

Weekly food post

 Like I mentioned last week, I'm definitely cooking more since we're home all the time now.  So I though I'd share some of the things we've eaten this week :)  And I'm taking the opportunity to join up with Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday link up.

 

Just like last week, breakfasts were mainly oatmeal (with strawberries and blueberries).  Lunches were mostly hummus sandwiches or leftovers.  Here are a couple of the dinners we had.

Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes with quinoa and a lemon tahini sauce.  This was surprisingly good for something so simple.  I also added olives, avocado and raw veggies as a topping.  I started with this recipe but adjusted for what we had around the house. 

We had pizza and salad night a couple times.  I wasn't sharing my pizza so I decided to try something a little weird.  I mixed some thai red curry paste with my pizza sauce, topped it with vegan mozzarella, mushrooms and onions.  And once it was out of the onion, I put some quick pickled vegetables on top.  It was surprisingly delicious!

We had planned burrito bowls again.  The same recipe as last time.  But for some reason, it was a failure this time.  I think our instant pot was the problem, it didn't come to pressure at all for some reason :(  We ended up ordering take out that night.  But we ended the week with an eggplant pasta that was surprisingly good, accompanied with garlic bread.  And the pasta was one pot, which is always a help with the dishes.

Most of these dinners were easy to cook and pretty inexpensive as well.  Which is definitely useful at a time like this.  I'd love to hear what you all have been eating and whether you found something surprisingly good!

Gratitude

I thought that this would be a good time to remind myself of all the things that I have to be grateful for, especially because it can be hard not to dwell on the negatives with all of the crazy things going on.

1.  Isolation with good people - We're all staying home much more recently.  It's been a week and a half since I've left the house for more than a walk or run.  But I'm happy that things have been going well in the house.  Mike is here, of course, and we have a friend who lives by herself who decided to stay with us for the duration as well.  We've all been getting along and enjoying the company.

And we have cats to keep us company!

2.  Savings - I'm glad that I have some savings and that we should be fine trying to get through 60 days where I'm only working 2 days per week.

3.  More time - Of course, only working 2 days per week means I'll have more time on my hand.  I'm trying to decide how I'll fill my time.  I don't want to spend the whole time napping or watching tv!  I'm planning to wake up at the normal time so I can stay in a routine.  So I'm thinking on non-work days I'll try to make sure I do one thing that's creative, one thing that needs worked on around the house, one physical activity, and one fun thing (video game, reading a book, a good movie, etc.).  And maybe also time to experiment with more involved meals.

Random meditative art project

4.  Technology and connecting with people:  I am so glad that if we have to stay at home, it's at a time when we have lots of options for ways to connect with people from a distance.  I've been having regular calls with family, virtual happy hours with friends, crafting sessions using Teams, and yoga using Zoom.  This has also helped with staying mentally healthy.

So those are the things on my list of things to be grateful for this week.  What's on your list?

Weekly Review

Yep, the title means that I'm not training for anything any more.  I received the official notice last week that the local 10k I was training for in April was cancelled.  And the Star Wars races at Disney World were cancelled too.  It wasn't unexpected given all the cancellations and I certainly understand why they had to make that move.

In addition, I learned that starting April 4th, my work week will be reduced to 2 days per week for 60 days.  While this is not great news, I understand why the company had to make this move.  I am thankfully in a position where I have savings and should be able to handle this.  So it's not great but we'll be ok.  And on the plus side, cooking at home and not going anywhere should help keep the budget down.  Plus, with the Disney race cancelled, we will be cancelling that trip and getting refunds.

Anyway, here are the details for last week.

Monday - Rest day plus yoga.  I set up a zoom meeting with friends and we've been doing Yoga with Adrienne together.  She has a 30 days series on You Tube so we started with day 1 and we're going in order.  I also got in a short walk.

Tuesday - Peloton is offering their app for free for 90 days so I'm giving it a try.  I did a 30 minute walk and a 10 minute strength training class. I also did some Yoga with Adrienne.

Wednesday - 3 easy miles + yoga

Thursday - 2 mile run + yoga

Friday - Unplanned rest day.  This was a crazy day at work and I even missed doing yoga.  But I did get a 15 minute walk in at the end of the day.

Saturday - 30 minute peloton run class - 90's fun run + strength training

Sunday - 3.5 miles with Mike on a local trail.  We were surprised how crowded it was.  We did our best to stay as far from other people as we could.

So that was last week.  I hope you all had a good week as well.  Here's my plan for the coming week.

Monday - Rest Day plus a walk and yoga
Tuesday - 3 easy miles + yoga
Wednesday - Strength training plus a walk
Thursday - 3 easy miles + yoga
Friday - Strength training plus a walk
Saturday - 3 miles + yoga
 Sunday - 5 miles + yoga

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!

 

Food for the Week

Since we're at home, I'm definitely cooking more.  So I though I'd share some of the things we've eaten this week :)  And I'm taking the opportunity to join up with Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday link up.

 

Breakfasts have been steel cut oats with strawberries and almond milk.  Lunches have mostly been hummus sandwiches with veggies or leftovers.  And dinners have been a variety.

We ordered from a local Chinese Restaurant one day, and that not only provided a delicious dinner but leftovers for lunch too.

   

Rice, General Tso's Tofu, Schezuan Green Beans and Stir Fried veggies

We have a Thai red curry with tofu and broccoli over noodles.  Sadly I forgot to take a photo of this one.

Next was a chickpea, potato and kale curry served over rice.  I started with a recipe from Vegan Richa but modified it pretty heavily.   

Yesterday we had burrito bowls made in the Instant Pot.  This was really easy and surprisingly delicious.  I used this recipe and the only change I made was to increase the liquid since people in the comments had talked about burning.  And lets be honest, burrito bowls are all about toppings :)  I had tomatoes, shredded veggies, pickled jalapenos and avocado on mine.

So many toppings it's hard to see the actual burrito bowl underneath

Mike also made an amazing vegan cake since this was the official anniversary of the date we had met.  It was so delicious that I forgot a photo!

So that's been some of the food we've been eating while social distancing.  I'd love to hear what you all have been eating during this time :)

Social Distancing Work Outs

Well, it seems like a lot of us are in the same boat!  A lot of the world is in a situation right now where are daily routines have been disrupted and we're having to minimize/cut out time we spend with other people.  This also include cutting out time in crowded places like restaurants and gyms. Both Mike and I are working from home as well.

But there are some silver linings to this as well!  The main benefit of course is to public health and I'm hoping that taking this seriously now will lead to everyone being able to get back to normal sooner rather than later.  Other silver linings... don't have to waste time commuting, more flexible schedule makes fitting in work outs easier, and more time to make food at home. 

As far as work outs, I wanted to share some things I've been doing.  I'm also joining the Runner's Roundup link up with your hosts Coach Debbie Runs, Running on Happy, Confessions of a Mother Runner, Mile by Mile, Runs with Pugs, and Fauxrunner each week for the Runners' Roundup linkup!  You can post your favorite running tips, experiences, race and training recaps, workouts, gear, and coaching ideas. 

1. Be creative about getting social - I've set up some time with friends to do yoga "together."  And no, we're not physically in the same room but we've set up a zoom meeting.  We have our videos on so we can see each other and we share a yoga video from You Tube so we can all do the video together.  We've been doing a 30 day series form Yoga With Adrienne and we're on day 4 now.  We've really been enjoying this.

2. Get outside!  It's been nice to at least get outside for a run or walk during the day.  Fresh air and getting outside of the house at least once a day has felt good. And it still counts as social distancing since I've only been going out on my own or with other people already in my household.  And if we happen to come across anyone, I move aside so we can pass with plenty of distance between us.

3.  Try something new - There are a lot of studios and apps offering free online access for now.  I downloaded the peloton app and plan to give it a try since they're offering it for free for a couple months.  It looks like they have some interesting options for outside walks/runs as well as strength training and yoga.  I still like the fitness blender work outs too.  Most of the workouts on their site are always free and it's easy to filter for the type of equipment you have available at home.

How are you dealing with social distancing if that's hit your area?  Any new or creative workouts you've come up with?

Pike's Peek 10k training week 8

How's everyone doing?  Things definitely took a turn last week and I know it was a week full of disappointment for a lot of people.  There were lots of race cancellations but in addition to that, lots of cancellations in our local communities.  The play we were going to see on the weekend was cancelled and luckily, we were able to cancel our hotel reservation too even though it was at the last minute.  The hotel was very flexible.

Mike and I are now both working from home for the next 2-3 weeks and we're both lucky that our jobs allow us to do that.  But before we talk about this week, here are the details on last week.  I got in 3 runs, a strength training session and a yoga session.

Monday - 3 miles

Tuesday - Fitness blender workout

Wednesday - Planned rest day

Thursday - Speed work.  My knee hurt during speed work last time so I decided not to push it too much.  I did 8 intervals of 2 minutes, and I was a bit slow on the first four but was able to hit my pace on the next 2 intervals and to beat it on the last 2 intervals.  So I was pretty happy about that. I don't know why Garmin didn't really record this run properly, it just shows the interval paces.  But at least it recorded in Strava.

Friday - Unplanned rest day.  Unfortunately, my knee wasn't feeling great after the speed work so I took a break.

Saturday - 2 mile walk.

Sunday - 5 mile run plus Yoga With Adrienne

So that was the week.  I think I'm going to have to take a break from speed work for a little longer.  My knee feels better so I try the speed work, but then it always causes pain afterward.  And to be honest, I'm not sure my April 10k races are even going to happen so it doesn't seem worth it to push.  The races aren't cancelled yet but I wouldn't be surprised to hear something on that within the next couple weeks.

 

We did go out for one last brunch at a local restaurant with lots of plant based options.  Mimosas, plant based hummus bowl with brussel sprouts and "eggs" for me, and a plant based peppermint patty shake.

As far as the plan for this week, at least working from home gives a bit more flexibility in my schedule.  And it looks like the weather should be good this week.  I'm hoping to get outside every day for at least a walk since that still counts as social distancing but it will be good for me to at least get a bit of time out of the house.  Here's my plan for the coming week.

Monday - Rest Day plus a walk and yoga
Tuesday - Speed work (1 mile warm up, 10 x 2 minutes, .5 mile cool down) - may skip it to just do 4 miles depending on my knee
Wednesday - Strength training plus a walk
Thursday - 3 easy miles + yoga
Friday - Strength training plus a walk
Saturday - 3 miles + yoga
 Sunday - 5 miles

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!

 

One Pot Thai Curry Pasta

I love one pot pasta!  It makes dinner so easy and quick.  Everything can cook together in one pot so there's not a lot of clean up either.  I know that is may not make the perfect plate of pasta and that it's in no way authentic, especially since this one is a mash up of pasta with Thai flavors, but it's still a delicious option for a weeknight dinner.  And it uses mostly pantry/frozen ingredients so that's another plus.

I started with the recipe from Vegan Heaven. This is the first time I've tried a recipe from this website so I was happy to find out that it was such a winner. I'm definitely going to be exploring the website more for other recipe ideas.  Here's what I did with the recipe.

4 servings (the website said 3 but this was definitely enough for 4 servings for us)

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced (We used garlic powder)
1 zucchini, chopped 
1 small red bell pepper, chopped 
4 1/2 cups uncooked fusilli (We used rotini as it's what we had in the pantry)
1 1/2 teaspoons red curry paste 
3 cups diced tomatoes (canned)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen peas 
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into halves (We skipped adding cherry tomatoes)
salt, to taste 
black pepper, to taste
fresh lemon juice  (We only had a lime so we used that)

Instructions

Heat some oil in a large pot and sauté the onion for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the garlic, the zucchini, and the red bell pepper and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients. Cook for about 17-18 minutes on medium heat, uncovered. I noticed some sticking towards the end.  If you use the cherry tomatoes, thrown them in around the 15 minute mark.  Season with salt and black pepper.

Tips that weren't in the original recipe:

1.  Make sure it is a large pot!  We chose a medium one and it made it a bit difficult to stir everything, especially at the beginning when the pasta was dry. 
2. I was a little skeptical at the beginning, it looked like it wasn't enough liquid, but don't add more!  It all cooked down fine.
3.  I would say you should stir the pasta periodically, especially once the liquid starts to get absorbed..  I noticed some sticking on the bottom of the pot otherwise.
4. I would maybe add a bit more curry paste next time to bump up the flavors.

And that's it!  It was so delicious.  I think this is one that will go into our regular rotation. I'd love to hear about any quick and easy go-tos you all have for weeknight meals.

Pike's Peek 10k training week 7

I hope everyone had a good weekend!  Last week went ok for me.  It was a cutback week so that helped with getting all my miles in.  Well, I extended the week to Monday morning and got my last run in this morning.  But still, that counts :)  So counting today's run, I got in 4 runs and 2 strength training sessions.  Here are the details.

Monday - Rest day plus a 1 mile walk in the afternoon
Tuesday - Strength training

Wednesday - Speed work.  The plan was a 1 mile warm up, 6 x 2 minutes, .5 mile cool down.  My knee hadn't been giving my any pain but as I started to do the speed work, I could tell it wasn't up to it.  I just wasn't able to push off the way I needed to hit my desired pace.  So I just did what I could and went as fast as I could, even though it wasn't the pace I was supposed to hit.  But then I made a stupid decision on the last interval and tried to hit my pace.  Good news, I hit it.  Bad news, there was sharp pain in my good knee afterward :(  I ended up walking the half mile back home since that's all my knee would let me do.  I iced and stretched later in the evening and it felt better by the next day.  I also kept hitting the wrong button on my garmin so this run is split up into three different entries.

Thursday - 3 easy miles and thankfully both knees felt fine.

Friday - Rest day
Saturday - We volunteered to do some voter registration during the morning.

Then I went out for a run in the afternoon.

Sunday - Strength training with a fitness blender video.

We went out to see a movie (Onward) earlier in the day and had planned to get our 4 mile run done later, taking advantage of the extra light in the evening.  But neither of us felt that great so we decided to postpone until Monday.  Turns out that was a good decision because I saw posts on our neighborhood list serve about a lot of smoke in the air.  Multiple people posted to say they couldn't be outside more than 5-10 minutes without starting coughing.  Turns out there was a "controlled burn" in Virginia and it was affecting the air quality over the whole area, even all the way to us in Maryland.

So that's the week.  Here's my plan for the coming week.

Monday - 3 mile run in the morning.
Tuesday - Speed work (1 mile warm up, 8 x 2 minutes, .5 mile cool down)
Wednesday - Strength training
Thursday - 3 easy miles
Friday - Rest day
Saturday - 4 miles + strength training at hotel gym
Sunday - 7 miles downtown DC (we're celebrating our anniversary with a weekend in DC)

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!

 

Gym alternatives

I hope everyone has had a good week!  For some reason, the week has felt really long for me.  But I'm glad it's finally Friday!  And I'm taking the opportunity to join up with Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday link up to talk about alternatives to the gym.

I've mentioned before that the branch of the gym that was closest to me closed at the end of December. The good news is that there are still three other branches relatively close.  But I've explored the other branches and haven't loved them.  2 of them don't seem great about upkeep.  The third one is really nice but it's just a little bit further and parking isn't as easy there.  So I'm contemplating whether to make some changes.  Here are some things I'm considering.

1.  Continue with the same gym membership and just suck it up.  I can go to the nice branch and it's really not that far.  It's 20-25 minutes instead of 10 minutes away.  I do like that they have a variety of fitness classes as well as being able to use the treadmill or the elliptical.

2.  Put together a home gym.  We could look into getting a treadmill or maybe a peleton bike for the house.  Mike said that all he uses the gym for is the treadmill anyway.  He doesn't use any of the classes.  And there are plenty of yoga and strength training videos I've found online that I can use that for my extra workouts.  The advantage with this option of course is that you can't beat the convenience of being able to work out in your own home!  It would be nice to be able to just go to the basement and not have to worry about driving to the gym.  But I might miss the option of the classes.

 

I did enjoy the peleton the couple times I tried it at hotel gyms

3.  The third option is look into studio classes.  I enjoyed the Zengo classes I was taking for a while and there is a new Orange Theory Fitness studio coming to my town.  The advantage here would be variety and the fun classes.  But the disadvantage would be that I would be tied to the studio's class schedule and couldn't work out at a time it was most convenient for me.  Also, I wouldn't really have a treadmill available when I just needed to get in a run during bad weather.  Plus, it would be a more expensive option if both of us wanted to do this.

 

I also really liked the fun classes at Zengo

I could also do a combination of 2 and 3, I guess.  We could set up a home gym and then I could just pay for an individual class when I was craving some sort of group fitness option.  I tend not to really do classes when I'm training for a race anyway and do them more often when I'm not training.  And I don't know that Mike would be interested in the classes.

But the good news is that I have plenty of time to decide.  There's no rush and the gym option works fine for now.  I want to research all the options that are out there before really deciding.  If you've set up a home gym, I'd love to learn about how you decided and what you outfitted the gym with!

 

 

Pike's Peek 10k training week 6

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  My week went pretty well.  The knee was a lot better and I go tin all 4 of my runs.  I only got in 1 strength training session instead of the two I wanted, but I'm still pretty happy with last week.  Here are the details.

Monday - Planned rest day with a 15 minute walk in the afternoon

Tuesday - We meant to do speed work but I made a last minute decision to just keep it at an easy pace.

Wednesday - Unplanned rest day.  I ended up having a head ache for most of the afternoon, maybe because of the changing weather.

Perry fell asleep with his hand on my shoulder, it was adorable!

Thursday - 40 minutes on the elliptical.  There were high winds so we went to the gym for our work out.  I got on the treadmill but after a couple minutes, it kind of felt like my knee gave out.  It was a scary feeling so I got on the elliptical instead.  After the work out was done, Mike told me he had gotten on that treadmill too.  And the track was periodically slipping!  So I don't think it was my knee after all, I think it was the malfunctioning treadmill.  We did let the gym staff know about it before we left.

Friday - Strength training (squats, crunches, oblique crunches, glute bridges, clam shells, push ups, planks, bicep curls, tricep curls, and shoulder presses)

Saturday - 3.5 easy miles.  It was still windy and cold so I struggled with that a bit.

Plus we went out to see some a friend in a local show and then to see more people at a party afterward.  It was definitely a later night than I'm used to and I didn't get to sleep until 2:30!  But it was a fun night.

Sunday - Thankfully we were able to sleep in!  Did some errands and then got around to my run around 4pm.  I was able to see a pretty sunset and the weather was beautiful.  I got in the full 6 miles but my knee did start hurting again around 4.5 miles.

So that's it for last week.  This week is a cut back week so I'm happy about that.  I also learned that there's a new Orange Theory Fitness opening in my town.  I saw they're having an event to talk about their founder rates later this month so I'm hoping to be able to check that out.  For those of you that have done OTF, any questions I should make sure to ask?  Here's my plan for the coming week.

Monday - Rest day plus an evening training.
Tuesday - Speed work (1 mile warm up, 6 x 2 minutes, .5 mile cool down)
Wednesday - Strength training
Thursday - 3 easy miles
Friday - Strength training
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - 4 miles

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown!