The Little Things
May 28, 2014

For four years I’ve had the pleasure of getting to live near my baby brother again as he went through college. I moved 10 hours from home when he was in middle school, and didn’t go home much, even in the summer. I missed a lot. So, when he decided to follow me and come to college near where I live, I was THRILLED. He’s a soccer player, and it’s been especially fun to get to watch him play college soccer for four years, even helping take his team to Nationals. I’ve enjoyed getting to lift with him almost every week during the spring semesters, and I’ve definitely learned quite a bit about health and strength training from him. What’s been even better is that he got to live with me this year, which was something that neither of us were planning on when he first came down here for school. Even though I didn’t get to see him every day this year (let’s be honest- so often I was asleep before he got home and had left for work before he woke up), I loved getting to spend more time with him!

Graduation weekend started out with a really fancy dinner- steak, lobster, lots of veggies, a huge table of bread with 4 types of speciality butter (i got pesto butter and ginger chili butter), lots of types of salad, delicious appetizers, and four delicious desserts to choose from! YUMMMM- I was still REALLY full a few hours later- it felt like Thanksgiving!

DinnerThere was absolutely no way I could eat all of this. Seriously- look how huge that steak is!

Lemon Tart

This Lemon Tart was the size of a salad plate. You better believe I ate the entire thing!

Another great joy of the weekend is that my Air Force Brother was able to come for about 34 hours to see him graduate. I haven’t seen AF Brother since Christmas, and likely won’t see him again until Thanksgiving or Christmas , so I was thrilled to get to see him at all.

Graduation was actually pretty exciting (I know that some of them can get really long and boring), but I knew lots of people in his class who were graduating, so that helped. He was smiling his little 3 year old smile- the smile that he did from the youngest age when he was just carefree and happy- it was so great to see. He’s worked so hard throughout college, and it’s been great to get to see firsthand. My family spent the day together, going on a 4 mile walk around campus, and my brothers and I stayed up pretty late on Saturday night hanging out.

The weekend went too fast, and the 4 years that my brother was in college went way too fast too. I’m so thankful that I got 4 bonus years of life to get to spend with my brother. Watching him pull away with his packed car was really sad, and I’ve definitely cried a few times since he left, but ultimately I’m happy for him. And now I can’t wait to see where his soccer takes him!!

 

May 27, 2014

I just wanted to pop in to chat quickly about the awesome bike ride I had earlier today. Yes- it’s taper time, and I really shouldn’t have gone as long as I did (but to be fair… it’s still the start of taper so I have some time…), but it was sunny and it’s what I really wanted to do today! Today is also the first real day of my “summer break” (where I work far fewer hours), so I had the entire day free after about 10:30 am.

I decided to do part of my ride on a new-to-me part of a trail, and had a great time. It was about 83 and sunny when I left, but the trail had lots of shady spots for most of the 21.5 miles that I went, which was nice. I brought appropriate fuel and gatorade & water this time (unlike a group ride I did last Tuesday), which definitely helped.

photoAround mile 10

The first few miles felt pretty easy. I clocked them in at 13.31, 14.98, and 14.05 mph respectively. The next few miles were uphill and straight against wind- TOUGH. I clocked those in between 11.75 and 12.4 mph respectively. I initially got annoyed knowing that my pace was dropping, but then I realized that uphill against wind is excellent training, and that a stupid number at the end doesn’t matter as much as how the workout went. I put my head down and pushed through, trying to enjoy the fields I was biking through. I turned around, knowing that I’d head downhill! I clocked those next three miles at 17.8, 16.7, and 15.3 mph, and enjoyed the breeze as the uphill portion had been in straight sunlight and heat. The rest of the ride was smooth sailing, and I ended my last three miles of the ride with paces between 14 and 15.2 mph- a solid finish to the ride. I ended up eating half a package of sports beans and 2 shot bloks on the ride, and that with the gatorade was sufficient (It’s so funny how different road vs. trainer biking is. On the trainer I didn’t need any fuel for a 20 mile ride, but on the road with hills and wind I definitely need some!).

What I love most about biking outside is seeing all of the wildlife and nature (flowers, trees, the fields, etc…). I ended up having to slow down because a muskrat was running down the trail ahead of me. Once I got close to him he ran off to the side of the trail and laid flat against the ground and didn’t move until after I passed. It was pretty cute- I wish I had a movie of the entire thing. I ended the ride smiling, happy to be out in the sunshine flying down the trail.

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you enjoy biking? If you do- what’s your favorite part about it? 

 

May 27, 2014

Earlier this month I won a giveaway from Erica for a free Memorial Day virtual race through vacation races. Memorial day, as I mentioned yesterday, is a meaningful day to me, so I was happy to get to run this race.

My youngest brother graduated from college on Saturday (SO so proud of him- more on that tomorrow) and I was up late that night celebrating with him, so when I woke up early on Sunday to take my other brother part way to the airport, I felt a little blah. Once I started running around 9:30 though, that all went away. The sun was out in full force, the humidity was high, and I was a little emotional (with both my brothers leaving that day). I had also woken up at some point in the middle of the night because my left calf muscle cramped up and it was really painful- I immediately sat straight up and tried to dig at the cramp to get it to relax- OUCH!! It was still a little sore and tender as I laced up my shoes. I started off pretty quickly (especially for all of these variables in play, and hit my first mile in under 11 minutes- oops). I wasn’t wearing my garmin and went out too fast.

I also found a “hill” (when I say hill, I mean that the incline is about 30 feet, and that’s as much of a hill as I have around me) to run up and down, and that added a bit of fun to my route. About half of the route was on a new-to-me road, and that also helped to shake it up a bit.

I tried to use some of the time I was running to pray for our military members (currently serving, those who have served in the past/were injured or in some other way traumatized) and their family members (again- those who have lost a family member, are currently in the middle of a loved one’s deployment, or are dealing with the fallout of some other aspect of their family member’s service). I spent about a mile and a half praying and thinking about it-that certainly didn’t help my level of emotional-ness throughout the day!

I hit 3.1 in 34:50- again, not my fastest 5k at all, but with all the variables mentioned above, I’ll take it. I ended up running a bit more for a total of 3.6 miles for the morning. Overall I felt pretty great. My muscle in my calf is still a tiny bit sore where it cramped up, but hopefully it’ll be back to normal quickly!

Memorial Day 5kShirt that came with the race.

Once again, I just wanted to say thank you to any military members and their families- I SO appreciate your service and your sacrifice.

 

May 26, 2014

Memorial weekend tends to be a fun weekend for people across the country. Picnics and parties tend to be the standard across the country, and I’ve certainly enjoyed this tradition throughout most of my life.

b4e457e375400157228b2b7b69751218source <-great article too

Amidst all of the fun and parties this weekend, please don’t forget the real meaning of this holiday. I talked more about  Memorial Day (decoration day) in a post I wrote last year. Don’t forget the huge sacrifices that our fallen soldiers and their families have made. For me, I’ll be remembering my mom’s dad, my dad’s dad (he just died in February and will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery), and my brother who is in the Air Force (who I got to see this weekend!), along with other friends.

Underneath the fun, laughter, and good food, don’t forget what this day actually means…

Thank you to all who serve, and thank you to the families who have also made great sacrifices.

 

May 25, 2014

This is my final hard workout week, as next week starts taper time. Oh boy. I’m still hoping that race day is nice and cool so I can run fast (for me) and not run one of my slowest half times. We’ll see- that’s definitely not something I can control 🙂 Here’s how the week looked:

So there’s the week. Not only did I hit my peak running mileage, but this is pretty much the highest number of miles biked in any given week since sometime in late summer/early fall. I’m trying to keep my legs moving (nice, slow walks) to avoid them getting stiff, and adding pilates in there to keep myself stretched out! I’m definitely looking forward to some more light pilates during taper to keep me nice and loose! Good thing I made homemade peanut butter cups to keep me fueled this week 🙂

Now it’s your turn to share! What was your favorite exercise for the week?

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May 23, 2014

Disclaimer: I was given 2 PureLyft sticks to try out through my affiliation with Sweatpink. All opinions are my own.

I have an interesting relationship with caffeine. I love it and hate it all at once. I’ve seen too many people addicted to caffeine, and want no part of that. That being said, I still drink caffeine an average of 3-4 times a week because I enjoy it and it helps me wake up in the mornings. Since I teach pilates and barre classes early in the morning, and then head to a dimly lit office to counsel all day, sometimes I need an extra pick me up.

photo 1

That’s where PureLyft could come in for me. I tried it out early on Tuesday morning, deciding to mix it in with straight water. There is no real taste to the caffeine, so you could mix it in with any fluid you’d like. I unpeeled the packaging off the stick, stuck it in the water for about 10 seconds as I stirred, and it was ready to go. The powder dissolved quickly for me, and it felt like I was drinking regular water. I liked the fact that there were vitamins in it as well– a much better start to my day then the sugar laden coffee I often drink (yes- I’m working on it).

PureLyft Caffeine Stick

The sticks could be stored in your purse, gym bag, while traveling (for all you caffeine addicts this could be HUGELY helpful!), or desk drawer for easy “in a pinch” use!

Would I choose to use these sticks every day- nope! I definitely am not ready to give up my coffee and tea all the time. However, like I said, in a pinch these would work great, and I plan to keep them around for that purpose! You can check out PureLyft at their website or on twitter.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite way to consume caffeine?

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May 22, 2014

Happy Thursday! After a few very long weeks at my job (crammed schedule with things I needed to do after work), this week has been a bit more quiet, which is nice. It’s also the last real week at my job before my summer schedule starts (summer schedule means I end up working about half the hours I work during the year!), and I’m excited about that too! Here’s what I’m thankful for right now:

I’m thankful for a really excellent year with my clients. This year has had several very difficult moments, but everything has worked itself out pretty well 🙂 I’m thankful for the hard work and dedication that many of them have shown in trying to work through whatever originally brought them to my office!

I’m thankful for my awesome run this past weekend. Seriously- it was a truly excellent run, and I wish that every single run could feel that good. Then again, if every run felt that great, it would just seem normal.

I’m thankful for netflix. I started watching Scandal as soon as I got home from work on Friday (I wanted to do some mat pilates, and watched a good show to watch!), and really I’ve watched far too many episodes of it so far. Netflix is great for a wide variety of shows, movies, and documentaries- I love it!

I’m thankful for the times I’ve gotten to lift with my youngest (soccer) brother over the last 3 years. For 3 years I’ve spent the spring semester lifting with my baby brother. He’s graduating on Saturday and leaving the area, so this week was our last lift…at least for awhile. I’m thankful for his patience in teaching me proper technique and pushing me when I say “I can’t” over and over again…

I’m thankful for sunshine. Sweet, sweet sunshine. I appreciate the cheery light that it gives off, and I love feeling the rays hit my skin. We had rain for a few days last week, and after the previous week being sunny, I realized how much I do crave the sun! I’m thankful for it.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for right now? 

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May 21, 2014

About six weeks ago I became obsessed with the chocolate/peanut butter combination. A friend of mine picked up these huge peanut butter cups for the two of us, and I happily ate it over the course of a few days. The next week she picked them up again for us. Somewhere in there was Easter (with lots of PB/chocolate combinations), and then again she brought the PB cups over. So, needless to say, I’ve been enjoying a few bites of peanut butter cups most days of the week, and I love it! However, the last time she brought them over she mentioned that they were $5 a piece. While they are absolutely delicious, that’s just ridiculous! Because of that, I decided to try to make my own. While not quite as pretty, they were just as delicious, and MUCH much cheaper! I used this recipe from “comfort of cooking” (head over there for actual recipe). This can easily be made lactose free, which is another great benefit to making your own candy and desserts!

Ingredients 

cooking, homemade, desserteach layered step of the process

That’s it! It was really easy to mix up. The only thing that took a little time is that each layer of the cup needs to be made and frozen at each individual point, so that takes a bit of time.

With the top layer of chocolate, I put a little sea salt on half the batch. It was definitely delicious to have the salty and sweet together (I’m a fan of that combination), but it’s certainly not necessary.

cooking, dessert, candyWith just a little salt on top!

One thing of note: it didn’t work the best to have the peanut butter all the way to the edge of the cup. With the first bite of the cup, the layers separated a bit and the peanut butter spilled out the sides. Eating them inside the liner definitely helped. While it didn’t impact the delicious taste of the cup, I’d definitely suggest leaving the peanut butter more in the center of the cup instead!

If you’re looking for a cheaper, healthier (I didn’t say healthy, but it certainly has less chemicals if you make them at home), and fun way to make candy/dessert, this is it! You can store these in the refrigerator for a few days to keep them delicious 🙂

If you want more delicious recipes, check out my recipe page!

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May 20, 2014

On Saturday I finally sucked it up and took my bike to the shop to get my back tire changed. Because I’ve been riding on my trainer since the start of December, my back tire has been rubbed down such that it wouldn’t be that safe to ride out on the road. (I just checked and I rode about 462 miles on my trainer from December-mid May).

While I was excited to finally hit the road biking again, I was also a little nervous. Biking has been a nerve-wracking thing for me. These nerves kept me from biking for 11 years, but biking has also been a place where I’ve gotten to practice overcoming fears. Biking has led to exciting moments, like my first triathlon, as well as my second triathlon, and a great 40 mile ride at the end of last summer. To me, biking feels like fear, but it also feels like freedom.

bike ride, fall, cycling

So, while I was nervous, I knew I just needed to get back out there to re-discover why I loved it so much. The first three miles felt a little tough. I wasn’t used to standing up while going over bumps, I wasn’t used to biking against the wind, and I had just done my long run 24 hours before, so my legs were a bit tired.

By mile 4, I’m pretty sure that a smile had found its way to my face, and I felt like I was flying again. I forgot that biking gives a sense of freedom that running and walking can’t give- to fly down the road with the wind feels awesome.

All winter I wondered if I was going to lose any of my biking fitness over the months; I wondered if my pace would drop back down again. When I finished the ride, I was happy to see that, even with tired legs, my pace matched my two fastest rides last year, which happened right before I switched back to my trainer.

So, I’d say that I’m happy with the way I trained over the winter, and I’m happy where I’m at going into the summer. My goal for the summer is to try and pick my pace up 2 mph or so for many of my bike rides- we’ll see how it goes!

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you done anything lately that’s scared you?

 

May 19, 2014

Saturday I ended up going on what turned out to be probably my best long training run I’ve ever done! I woke up at 7:30 intending to head out within an hour for my run, but a friend ended up stopping by, so I didn’t start running until around 10. Luckily, unlike last week, it was much cooler. We had a few days where the temperature dropped from the 70s and 80s back down to the 40s, so it was absolutely fantastic running weather. Although the weather provided a great environment for running, I know that my half marathon won’t be so chilly, so part of me was hopping for some hotter weather to get myself used to running in that weather. As this was my last long run before my half, I guess my run last week is the only real race that’ll give me that weather!

I felt pretty great right off the bat on my run, which is more rare than not. It often takes me 1-2 miles to really warm up and get going. Around the 3 mile mark I heard a text come through, so I pulled out my phone on a walk break to text my cousin back. I realized at that point I was holding an 11:03 pace- WOAH. I don’t really ever hold that pace during long runs, even during a race! I pulled my phone out right past mile 6 to text my cousin again, and was still hovering right around 11:06 pace. That felt really awesome, and right on par with my 9.8 miler back in March.

Right around mile 8 I could tell that my pace had slowed slightly- I was really fighting for it, but it felt great! I took a small handful of sports beans at mile 4, and had about 10 ounces of nuun on the run. I’ve been carrying my handheld on my longer runs the last few weeks just to get my body used to it. Depending on how hot race day is, I may want to carry it with me. To replicate race day, I decided to run with it. I thought it might bother me to hold it for so many miles, but it didn’t at all!

I came back to the driveway and saw this:

9.8 mile training run

BAM- AWESOME run and a full 1 minute 25 second per mile pace faster than my run last week. As I had mentioned in the spring, I had been having the start of leg cramps on my runs, but since I’ve been regularly stretching my calf muscles on an almost daily basis, this hasn’t been a problem. I didn’t have any pain or cramps at all, despite my faster than normal pace. I also down a salt packet before each of my runs.

This run was a truly excellent run. I listened to podcasts, enjoyed the flowers blooming and the squirrels and birds hopping around, and ran with a smile on my face most of the time. This is the type of run that keeps me coming back…