sidebar | life and training 10.6 – 10.12
It’s 65 degrees out and I am JOYFUL!
Happy Monday, folks! When the weather cools down, my mood amplifies about twentyfold. I will always maintain the merit in people generally feeling more aggressive during hot weather – it surely holds true for me – and calming down once the temps become more manageable.
Our first cold front of the year blew through this weekend and left in its wake a mass of glorious lows and manageable, dry highs. Anything in the low to mid 60s constitutes my ideal running weather. My legs and lungs love that range, and so does my mind. I lock in more easily to not just running, but any task I take on.
Saturday the drastic change in the atmosphere started, and J and I embarked on an adventure to Ananda Farm in Terra Ceia. I’d caught wind of this place from someone’s Instagram post and I thought it looked cute, so after our morning tasks we ventured out. It was overcast and windy and the high didn’t exceed 80 degrees. I really could’ve gotten away with wearing a sweatshirt!
Honestly, the place was underwhelming. Definitely a venue for children and families and not really farm-like. I didn’t see any cows! We waited 45 minutes for an okay lunch that arrived in 5 minutes (I’m willing to bet much of the wait time had to do with the adults being fucking idiots to the one person at the register. “Are the sweet potato chips fried?” “What are chicken fingers?” -actual quotes J sent me.)
We moseyed about, climbed a few hay bales (that was fun, and made me feel WAY out of shape), wove through a corn maze that wasn’t corn, and ultimately just observed. The pumpkin patch was cute and Little Miss Ba had a wonderful time looking at all the gourds. She found many her size!
Stopped over thereafter at American Honey for cones. This honestly was the highlight of the day. I got the Cookie Monster flavor, which did not lack in cookie dough chunks at all. We sat outside and enjoyed our treat before heading home.
Speaking of cones, J and I redeemed my failed Saturday ice cream conundrum with cones from Chill Bros on Monday. I got their pumpkin fluffernutter flavor and it more than made up for things. THAT is what pumpkin ice cream should taste like!
Earlier in the week, Wednesday I believe, I visited Shortwave to try their salted maple latte. It did not disappoint! I’ve one more fall flavor of theirs to try and I have high hopes since it’s pumpkin-based. So long as they don’t overload it with nutmeg I’m sure it’ll be great. Stay tuned!
Sunday I had a nice hour-plus phone call with my best friend. I’m not the best at keeping up communication with my people but fortunately they’re just as shitty about it as me. It was great to catch up with him and we’re both hoping we have plans in the works for the upcoming weekend.
Some good fallish eats from the week: a chickpea and butternut squash salad with feta and cranberries, pumpkin ravioli with sausage, and vegetable dumplings with edamame and boiled eggs. Yum yum!
I anticipate these next couple weeks bringing a bit of stress and chaos, hopefully nothing more than I can manage. We’re travelling up to PA for my sister’s wedding next Thursday, and prior to I need to get some car maintenance done. I think Roly Poly might have a leak in one of her tires, which is not great. Hopefully a little plug can do the trick if needed. She also needs an oil change but we plan to take care of that in the next few days.
Hope ya’ll are well! Can’t wait to share some spoopy treats this week, I think you’re gonna love em.
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A creamy and simple butternut squash bisque.
…A sweet and addicting Chex mix!
…A spooky boozy brunch drink.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Salsa…Loving on the Fall Harvest Salsa from Trader Joe’s. Grab two jars because it won’t be around forever! I’ve been snacking hard on this + the fall leaf chips they carry this time of year. Hard to have any self control…
Running shoes…I adore my Saucony Kinvara 16. I’ve worn them on easy runs, strides, and my long run so far and they seem to fit my feet very well. The stack height isn’t obnoxious and the toes are happy with the room they have in the toe box. Thinking of getting another pair soon.
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Pumpkin Risotto with Herb Butter Mushrooms
Tuesday…Buffalo White Bean Chili
Wednesday…One Skillet Apple Cider Glazed Salmon and Butternut Squash Pilaf
Thursday…French Onion “Meatball” Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Friday Happy Hour…Pumpkin Chai Old Fashioned
Saturday Baking…Chai Latte Oatmeal Cookies
Gameday Snack…Buffalo Cheddar Pumpkin Pizza
Shops & Wish List
Fashion
Target…In the market for some new run shorts and eyeing these pocketed bike shorts. Pockets are a MUST for me…Loving this cozy knit polo, especially the burgundy hue.
CRZ Yoga…In the market for new shorts (as mentioned) and am a sucker for matching sets right now, so I bought the Butterluxe halter tank + Naked Feeling biker shorts in red merlot. Been reading good reviews so hoping they pan out!
Pumpkin Patch Treats
Indulge in these delightful nibbles as our favorite gourd plows into our October culinary rotations! If there’s something I haven’t made that you’d like to see, let me know!
Cream Cheese Swirled Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Bourbon Frosting
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Baked Pumpkin Pie Crunch French Toast
Week in Training
Monday, 10.6: 9.35 miles, 9:41 pace + 22 minute full body
Fabulous workout! Focusing on 10k/threshold/tempo paces in my workouts lately and this one felt so good and controlled. 8 x 800 at 10k effort, averaged 7:55 and splits were as follows: 8:01, 8:00, 7:56, 7:55, 7:52, 8:00 (pretty sure that was wrong since my GPS hit my usual deadzone here, I was hovering around 7:54 prior to the goof), 7:51, 7:51. Super stoked on this.
Strength:
- 3 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 50#
- 3 x 8 narrow lat pulldown 60#
- 4 x 6 mid row 60#
- 3 x 10 biceps curl 15#
- 3 x 10 sumo squat 60#
- :30 ea. Copenhagen plank
Tuesday, 10.7: 5 miles, 11:32 pace
Slow and steady, WINDY miles this morning. So hot out but just trying to hang in there until the weather supposedly improves by Thursday or Friday!
Wednesday, 10.8: 9 miles, 9:23 pace + 4.75 miles, 10:18 pace
Fun tempo sesh this morning! Felt good out (73 with a 71 dew point which is a big difference for me) and my legs just caught on real nice. Ran this tempo in a sort of pyramid workout, increasing speed towards the end of the first interval and starting fast and decreasing speed during the second. Ran 2 x 4k averaging 8:15 pace which is just around where I wanted to be! 8:17 and 8:14 were the averages for the two sets, and I jogged 2 minutes in between.
Second run was steamy and hot in my new Kinvara 16! So far so good on those but we’ll see as I continue to run in them.
Thursday, 10.9: 8 miles, 10:55 pace + 15 minute full body
7 easy miles in the Kinvara again – still feeling good! Then an extra mile with 5 x stride and a cooldown. Didn’t have much time to get a strength session in but I did what I could and that’s good enough for me.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 shoulder press 15#
- 3 x 10 diamond squat 50#
- 3 x 12 pushup
- 3 x 8 ea. sit squat 15#
Friday, 10.10: 4.5 miles, 11:20 pace
Easy miles at 149 bpm. Windy as hell once again!
Saturday, 10.11: 14.01 miles, 10:58 pace
GLORIOUS morning! The wind was brutal on the way back but I felt really good and happy overall. Took two and a half gels, including a new-to-me Untapped maple syrup. It’s literally just syrup and thus tasted really good, albeit kinda took on the flavor of my sweaty pants pocket…Also chewed a few SaltStick tabs. Feeling confident after these two quality long runs in a row!
Sunday, 10.12: 25 minute elliptical + 15 minute walk
Total running mileage: 54.6
