Legs, Legs and Tackling a List Item

Today, I went to the club with C and we tackled my leg workout. Granted, I am still a little sore from Friday’s grueling session, so tackling the legs wasn’t easy. And now, now I really have a sore behind. But it’s always fun to work with someone else and C and I usually laugh at least once or five times while we are trying to improve our health.

I also convinced her to try the steam room, because I was hoping it would alleviate a bit of my cold issue. I’ve only done the steam room one other time and it kind of takes your breathe away at first. The eucalyptus aroma was a bit on the light side today so it didn’t provide the ultimate spa experience I enjoyed the first time, but it did help with the cold.

Yesterday, we went to the MN State Fair and I officially said goodbye to the Whole30 for this go round. But there are a few things that I am going to take on the long-term path (for as long as I can.) One of those is food prep Sundays and making my lunches and breakfasts for the week. I love yogurt, but I could definitely tell a difference in my overall satiety during the day when I started it with the crustless quiche. I just had more energy and was less hungry in the afternoon. It was a very good thing. I also think my overall lunches were just better. So this week, i changed it up and instead of chicken thighs, I made the cabbage rolls from Practical Paleo.

They are a bit buried in the tomato sauce in the photo below, but they smelled amazing, so I cannot wait to enjoy them during my lunches.

I had a bunch of napa cabbage left, so I decided to tackle something from my 50 by 50 list. (Which, yes, I have sadly neglected for much of the year, but I think I’ll be able to cross a few things of before the end of the year and still stay on track.)

I’m taking a go at number 7 – learn how to make kimchi. There are a lot of kimchi recipes out there and  because Korean cuisine is very hot at the moment, it’s pretty easy to find one that I felt I could tackle. I just started following Heartbeet kitchen not that long ago, so I thought I’d use her recipe as my base. Granted, I’ll riff on it a bit and D will definitely have a say in what he’ll want to add.

The first step is soaking your cabbage in a brine. We added a few cucumbers just for fun.

This will now sit in it’s brine for quite a bit. Tomorrow, I’ll make the paste and then we’ll put it into the crock where we’ll ferment it for at least a couple of days (if not longer, based on the pot instructions and their recommendations. I’m excited to try this … and am just hoping I don’t poison us in the process.

Time to Werk!

This is H, my personal trainer. She kicks my butt. I mean, literally, my butt is so sore right now it is not funny. Today was my monthly session and it was focused on strength. First, she upped my number of strength days to three, and the workouts are not easy. But that’s good, that’s what I want. I want results and results take work. But wholly goodness.

She warned me that my legs workout was really tough, would take me longer than an hour and to not even attempt in on days I do cardio.

These are just a few of the tools I have for legs. I had to take a picture of the step, so that I could remember which size step to use. Now I know it’s the one that’s as tall as the benches. Ha.

Yeah, it was brutal, and the soreness started to creep in right around lunch time. Alas, tomorrow we are tackling the MN State Fair, and I am going to be hurting! I was thinking I’d be really motivated, get up extra early and get a run in beforehand. I think that is a pipe dream, but we shall see.

I’m seeing some physical results, especially in my abs, so I am going to continue to commit … even though I may grunt a few times or many while I am doing it.

Rain Dancing

I have a 10K in a month, which means it’s time to start adding some longer mileage on my weekend runs. And it means I need to start going back to running outside on the weekends. I need the ‘mill during the week so that I can do my interval and zone training, but now that I’ve decided Saturday’s are my find a good pace and just enjoy running day … outside I go again.

Today it was running, so I easily could’ve made an excuse not to run outside. But I said, “to heck with it, I’m gonna do it. If it were a race, I’d run in the rain.”

And it was so wonderful. I forgot how nice it is to just run and connect by yourself outside when you’re not worried about getting to a finish line. Of course, I had a self-imposed finishing line today: the library. I was going to run there and then D and the boys would pick me up. (I’ve tried running with the books after I pick them up … it’s a bit of a pain in the arse.) It’s been so long since I ran that path, that I took a wrong turn and got a little lost. But I looked at it as a little extra mileage and that was a good thing.

It was 20 degrees cooler today than last Saturday’s race and it was amazing! I also donned my new running visor and what a savior it was. It helped keep most the rain off my glasses and allowed me to just zen out as much as was safe. And it kept my new shorter hair off my face. (Had three inches cut off Thursday night.)

It was a reminder about why I started running and why I continue to do it. To connect with myself, reflect on my personal journey and push my limits. And at the end of the run … it felt so very good.

At Least It Is Progress

Today I conquered another 5K. It was a new one, and D was supposed to run it with me, but because of his back injury, he watched from the sidelines with the boys.

I went back to my old shoes to see if the wide width made the difference, and my foot didn’t fall asleep. I think it’s safe to say momma needs a new pair of shoes. It was a typical humid summer day, but a lot of the course was in the shade so that helped for the most part. I wish there had been a breeze coming off the lake. But there wasn’t.

I came in at 36:04, so definitely not a PR, but redeemed myself from my last race debacle. I am clearly not a good summer runner, so I cannot wait until the weather cools a bit. But since my next race is a 10K, I told D I need to add back in “longer” runs on the weekends … longer runs on the road.

I’m almost halfway through this round of Whole30 and for the most part I am feeling great. I think I’ll stick to Sunday batching for lunches during the week … they really are more satisfying than the frozen meals I defer to. But I cannot wait to be able to enjoy a glass of wine on the weekends. And dairy, I really miss dairy. Of course, I think I’ll have to figure out the proper amount and moderation going forward, because I’m feeling so good, I don’t want to derail it.

 

 

 

Week 2 and Back on the Run Track

It took me all weekend to fully recover from last Thursday’s race. The damage done during the run to my legs was ridiculous. I decided to look more closely at my shoes tonight compared to my last pair (since they are the same model, just different years) and found the difference. My older pair are wide width … which explains why my feet have been feeling pinched. So, it’s time to get some new shoes and make sure they are the right width. This weekend, I’ll don my older pair, while they are not ideal, they are still in good enough condition that three miles won’t be a big deal. But I will need to get a new pair that I can start breaking in before my 10K in September.

In the food area, it’s week 2 for Whole30 and I’m feeling good and eating well. For breakfast I had a crustless quiche and sauerkraut. It was interesting, but I get the whole probiotic thing in the morning. For lunch, I enjoyed a mustard glazed chicken thigh with cauliflower rice and a salad. I came home and I actually wasn’t starving. Then for dinner, I made the pork lettuce cups pictured above (thankfully D had the mise en place all ready to go so I just had to make it.) The boys loved it. The sauce was an almond butter and coconut aminos sauce. It was really a very tasty and repeatable dinner. I love it when they enjoy the healthy, whole food meals.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back to the club to do some weightlifting, it will have been a week, so I’m expecting it to be a little brutal … but I so need it.

Being Defeated

Yesterday was day 4 of my Whole30 challenge and the annual Esprit de She race. Normally, I love this race and often get a personal record at the race. But as D will tell you, last night was the race of excuses:

• The warn you not to tackle the Whole30 if you trying to tackle an athletic goal of significant merit
• I totally didn’t hydrate properly throughout the day
• Nor did I fuel very well, because, well, life and work and stuff
• It was bloody hot
• It was an evening race, which is always tougher
• My foot fell asleep a little after mile 2 (and if you look at my Nike+ app, you see that I did a 10 min/mile for the first mile and then slipped to a 12 min/mile for the last part of the race. It was brutal. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong so I can correct it.

I think yesterday I had even more excuses. Alas, I have another race next weekend, so I am going to try and redeem myself. I’ll be at the halfway mark of the Whole30, so my body will hopefully have adjusted and I’ll make the race much more worth my while. Goodness knows, I want to get faster … not slower!!

Two Days In

The sun is setting on the second day of this Whole30 adventure. It actually wasn’t too bad. I didn’t experience a severe headache or brain fog like the first time I did the program. (I have to say I am very shocked because I ate a lot of not so good for you stuff the past weekend because I was going to miss it (hello cheese!)

But, so far so good. I enjoy the timeline they provide that walks you through how you might feel during the 30 days. It has just the right blend of truth and humor. Of course the day that it says you will be all out crabby is when I have a race. I’m hoping to channel that and hoping I won’t be too tired.

I did some strength work tonight and while I found it challenging, I kept doing my little chant and powered through. Here’s to the next 28 days!