This Week: Workouts, increase in running mileage and things I’m looking forward to

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Good morning! What a gorgeous weekend we had, right?! It’s amazing what a good dose of Vitamin D, warm weather and outdoor cocktails can do for your (my) mood. Another thing good weather is for? Running outside. This past week, I amped up my running for some odd reason. I’m not one for running more than a couple of days in a week, but it felt good this week so I ended up running 4 days! It’s definitely not my favorite way to workout, but sometimes my regular workouts get boring and I need to change things up.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and then did 30 minutes on the elliptical after.
  • Tuesday- I ran 5 miles after work!!! I’ve been capping my runs at 4 miles lately and decided it was time to amp it up a bit. It wasn’t my fastest mile times, but it felt pretty good.

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles along the Charles before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- I taught SHRED (which left me SO sore) and then Cardio Kickboxing. I almost had a meltdown because I realized I forgot my socks and teaching for 2 hours sans socks would’ve been a really miserable experience. Luckily, a random (seemingly normal and hygienic) lady in the locker room volunteered an extra pair of clean socks to the cause- I was so thankful! She forgot her sports bra, but unfortunately I didn’t have anything to give her there.
  •  Friday- Friday’s are usually my rest days but since I wasn’t teaching on Saturday and was going to a surprise birthday party that night, I decided to workout. My plan was just to run 2 miles then do yoga, but I ended up running 3 miles and then doing about 20 minutes of yoga and my standing ab workout. I was sore before I worked out and even more sore after. Whoops!
  • Saturday- I did A LOT of manual work with my dad. He came down to start my garden for me and I lugged so many heavy bags of soil mixes and wood and shoveled so much- phew!

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  • Sunday- I went for another run- 4 miles this time- with and average of 8 min/mile, which is pretty fast for me. I also did some core work.

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My plan is to do a strength workout during my lunch break since I won’t have access to the gym for much longer (more on that later!). I’m not going to do cardio today since last week was cardio heavy.
  • Tuesday- I have plans after work (going away party for work- again, more on that later!) so I’ll get up in the morning and probably run and do core work.
  • Wednesday- Running and then teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and then cardio kickboxing.
  • Friday- Likely a rest day or yoga day. I don’t think I’ll have to work so that means I have plenty of time for something.
  • Saturday- I’ll finally be back at the Oak Square YMCA for my cardio kickboxing class- I missed you guys last week!
  • Sunday- Probably nothing. I think I’ll be in NH Saturday night and then heading to Maine on Sunday for Memorial Day weekend.

Increase in Running Mileage- how much is too much?

Last week I ran 15 miles, which is more than I’ve run in a long time. I get a little nervous about doing that much running in a week because I’m afraid of getting injured (and since I’m still teaching my regular fitness classes). I’m by no means a “runner” and have developed injuries in the past when I’ve run too much, but lately I’ve really been enjoying it. I think part of the reason is because I’ve had a lot on my mind and running is a good way to zone out and think about things. It’s also been fun to see how my speed changes depending on whether I run at night or in the morning and I’ve been pleased that, for the most part, my speed keeps increasing. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep at it, but for now I’m just soaking it all in.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Phew. Lots of stuff this week! I’m looking forward to having some time off at the end of the week and celebrating with work people after work on Tuesday. I’m also looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. The boy and I are going to his Uncle’s birthday party/pig roast on Saturday and then we will head up to Maine on Sunday for a BBQ at my parents house (I think!). It will be nice to be around friends and family and really kick off the summer. I just hope the warm, sunny weather is here to stay 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Are you a “runner”? What’s your advice for increasing mileage and/or speed in a way that avoids getting injured and not overworking yourself? What are you looking forward to this week?

How to host a low-stress party or get-together

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Over the weekend, I hosted a Mother’s Day brunch for my family. Rather than going up to Maine again, I thought it would be fun to have them come down here and let me (and my sister- she was a big help!) do the brunch get-together. My parents are notorious for bringing down ample amounts of food, drinks (ie: wine) and presents and even though I told them not to do that this time, what did they do? Bring down lots of food and drinks and presents. They are too good to us!

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Since the brunch was super easy to put together, I thought I’d share what I did in hopes it might help you host your next get-together stress free!

Plan out your menu in advance

In addition to planning out the menu, write down what ingredients each dish requires so you can be prepared to shop for what you need.

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Shop in advance

I never like to leave my food shopping trip for the day of or even the night before because I’m always afraid they won’t have what I need, especially if it’s something that the stores tend to run light on (kale, for instance). It’s also less stressful shopping in advance because you know that even if you don’t get everything in that one trip, you have plenty of time to go to another store to get what you need.

Prep what you can in advance

There are lots of “prep” things that need to get done when hosting a get-together, but the great thing is that not everything needs to be done the day of. I made my muffins the day before because I knew they would keep fine for the next day. I also cut up all the veggies and fruit early in the morning so that I was ready to put everything together when my parents got here.

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Keep it simple

It may sound like a great idea to put together a fancy dish or meal that you’ve seen on Pinterest or from Martha Stewart, but trust me- it’s always going to be more work than you think it will be. I wanted to do a crepe bar, but decided to skip that because it was going to require a lot of ingredients and a lot of prep work. By picking a few main items for the brunch, it allows those to shine. I skipped out on apps, too, because I wanted them to eat the brunch and not fill up ahead of time with crackers and cheese or something like that.

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Ask for help

I know I’m guilty of always wanting to do everything on my own and not ask for help, but I’ve learned that’s like an open door for unwelcomed stress to come in. You don’t have to ask for a lot of help, but if someone offers to bring wine or a side dish or to come early and help you prep the food, graciously say “ok, that would be great. Thanks!”. My sister came over an hour before my parents were due here and it was so nice to have another set of hands.

Don’t expect everything to turn out perfectly

Things happen. Things get forgotten. Things don’t turn out as well as you hoped. And you know what? That’s ok! No one will even notice… especially if you keep their glasses full 😉

Enjoy yourself

Pour yourself a cocktail before everyone gets there and be excited to be hosting a gathering! If they see you relaxed and happy, they will fall in line, too. No one likes to see a stressed host!

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 Questions for you: Do you like to play hostess and host various gatherings? Do you tend to go fancy or keep it simple? What’s something you do to stay stress-free?

 

Wednesday Workout: Run/Walk & Superset Workout

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Good morning! I don’t have a long post for you today because I’ve been mentally fried this week and haven’t had it in me to spend a lot of the time on the computer after work, but I did want to pop in quickly and give you a workout that I originally planned to do last night. I say “planned” to do because I did it once and then forgot about it throughout the rest of my run. Womp.

With the weather seemingly on a turn for the better, though, I’ve been trying to take my workouts outside when I can. Last night wasn’t particularly great weather, but I still couldn’t stand to go run on a treadmill so I threw a long-sleeved shirt on and hit the pavement. I haven’t run more than 4 miles for as long as I can remember, but I decided to step it up a notch this week and run 5 miles. It felt surprisingly really good!

This workout can be done by walking or running the .5 mile increments and you can do it on a treadmill or outside.

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I did my push-ups and triceps dips on a park bench and it was perfect!

Let me know if you try this. I plan to put a list together of all my favorite outside workouts soon!

Questions for you: Have you been working out outside lately? Do you prefer to run or walk outside or on a treadmill?

Weekending: Dining, drinking & celebrating mom

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Weekends are usually pretty great, but this past weekend was especially great and I think the combination of being surrounded by lots of family and the weather was the reason behind it. I’ve been trying to cut back on weekend recaps because I’m not sure how much you enjoy hearing about my play-by-play weekend adventures, but this one was filled with trying out new restaurants and celebrating someone very special so I figured it was worth sharing 😉

Friday night, I met the boy in Central Square and he brought me to a little hidden gem: Green Street Grill. This little restaurant/bar was tucked away on a street parallel to Mass. Ave right in the heart of Central Square. We were lucky enough to snag 2 seats right at the bar (our favorite) and enjoyed some vino and delicious (gluten free) dishes. I had had a very stressful (but good stress) day and it was so nice to be able to relax, have a few wines and not think about anything for a while.

Saturday morning, my sister and I went to a class at Flywheel and, just as I expected, Ann taught a phenomenal class. I’d love to say that I had a great ride, but for some reason, my legs felt like lead and I just didn’t have it in me to push myself and pedal faster. I wanted to- so badly- but my body had another thing planned. Oh well. It was still fun riding next to my sister and we left there hot yoga sweaty!

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After class, we shopped around a bit (I got a new dress for Miami!) and then had lunch at Sonsie. The weather had cleared and we got seats right near the open windows- felt so nice to have warm weather!

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I can’t say any of what I ate/drank was healthy, but life is all about balance, right?

Saturday night was date-night. We went to his brother and sister-in-law’s condo in the South End for roof deck cocktails and baby snuggles before having dinner at Stella, which is also in the South End. My friend Jess recommended it and it turns out it’s one of his favorite restaurants, so it was a no brainer to try it out! Even better? They have a whole gluten free menu. We had a drink while waiting for spots at the bar to open up (the Bruins were on. I couldn’t care less, but I wasn’t going to take him away from watching). For dinner, we shared the sausage and broccoli rabe, the arugula salad and the braised short ribs. They split that for us, which was so nice! They also served it atop gluten free penne instead of GF mashed potatoes which was totally fine.

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Yum. I can’t wait to go back- I dream of that dish. Okay, not really, but it was SO good.

Sunday was a fun day filled with pampering mom! We were lucky enough to have them agree to come down for the day instead of us going up there since we’ve been a few times in the past month or so. Danielle and I made a pretty delicious brunch, if I do say so. We had an egg casserole (egg, milk, chicken sausage, sautéed peppers and onions, spinach and cheese- so easy, so tasty), warm kale salad (with EVOO and lemon juice as the dressing, craisins, goat cheese, grilled pear and candied pecans), fruit salad and Stonewall Kitchen blueberry muffins.

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One of the best parts of the day was the fact we got to spend time on my back patio, soaking up some serious sun!

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(terrible picture, but it was all I had!)

My mini patio set is, well, mini, but we squished to make it work.

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Yummm. I love brunch food! We had such a nice afternoon drinking wine (mom loves excuses to day drink!) and catching up. My dad is coming down next weekend to help get my garden started and I can’t wait! It will be so nice to have fresh veggies all summer- I’m lucky that he has volunteered to help!

And that about sums it up. Although it was a rather indulgent weekend, there’s nothing better than spending time with the people you love and food/drink indulgences are totally worth it during those times!

Questions for you: Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do to celebrate Mother’s Day? What’s your favorite “hidden gem” restaurant? Do you ever have workouts where your mind wants it but your body doesn’t?

This Week: Workouts, Big Decisions to Make & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! How was your weekend? Besides the weather on Saturday, mine was really great. My brain was pre-occupied with thoughts surrounding a big decision I need to make, but luckily I was surrounded by lots of support which helped to ease my mind a bit. While I think I am a pretty good decision maker in that I don’t think I’m overly indecisive, there are just some decisions that aren’t as easy to make as a dinner reservation, for instance. Needless to say, there was lots of list making, lots of weighing of the various pros and cons, lots of conversations and lots of going back and forth.

Even though I was mentally fried on Thursday and Friday and didn’t want to workout, my workouts helped clear my mind a bit- it was nice to have that time as time where I was thinking about the workout vs. other things. Anyone else turn to workouts in times of stress?

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I went to my office gym on Monday for a quick lunchtime workout. The workout was fast, efficient and left me sore for a few days. Success!
  • Tuesday- I ran 4 miles before work… at a faster pace then the morning run the week before!

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles outside before teaching UXF Burn. It was my first outdoor run through Cambridge since last season and it was awesome! So many people had the same thought so it almost felt like I was running with people… almost…

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  • Thursday- I taught a SHRED class based off of the workout I did on Monday and then taught a kickboxing class I had taught a few weeks ago. I don’t like to repeat workouts in their entirety, but I just didn’t have the time or thought space left to make up a new one. I don’t think they noticed.
  • Friday- I did 10 minutes of random cardio exercises before doing 35 minutes of yoga. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to shut off my thoughts and focus on my breathing, but luckily, that wasn’t the case. Although I did have thoughts come through, they didn’t interrupt my flow or focus on breathing. It was actually a really good yoga sesh!
  • Saturday- My sister and I went to a class at Flywheel. It was such a fun way to start our Saturday. Now that we don’t live together anymore, we try to get together on the weekends for a workout and lunch when we can. Our instructor was Ann, and I picked her class because I loved it the last time I went!
  • Sunday- Nothing! I did a few standing ab routines while I was cooking for my mom, but other than that I relaxed and sat in the sun and spent time with my family. It was great!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I am teaching my 6am Muscle Work class today and then I’ll stick around and do 20-30 minutes of cardio after.
  • Tuesday- I will probably run… maybe outside?
  • Wednesday- Maybe another run before teaching UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- SHRED followed by Kickboxing
  • Friday- I am going to a surprise party with the boy after work, so I think I’ll try to get in a workout during the day. Nothing crazy, just a little something!
  • Saturday- I was supposed to teach my kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA, but I decided to switch with the other instructor so that I wouldn’t have to worry about teaching in the morning while at the party on Friday night. With that said, I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing. I’d love to get to a BodyPump class, but we will see what I end up doing (if anything).
  • Sunday- What I do Sunday will be dependent upon what I do the rest of the week. I have a few plans during the day and at night, so I may not even have time to do a workout (rather, I may not want to MAKE THE TIME to do a workout… and that’s ok!).

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Making a decision! I’m looking forward to not having to go back and forth between various options and just picking something! I’m also looking forward to having a fairly open schedule after work this week. It’s nice to be able to have time to do things that I may not have been able to get done over the weekend. Lastly, I’m excited to go to a surprise birthday party (even though I won’t know anyone there!)… I don’t go out-out like that very often anymore, so when there’s a special occasion that warrants it, I get excited 🙂

Questions for you: Are you a good decision maker? What do you do to relieve stress? What was your best workout last week?