Hazy days of summer.
Hello, all! My, has my brainfog been bad this week. Though honestly, maybe I’m deluding myself. I often complain that I never do anything of import, yet my days are often filled with doing stuff. I just never seem to be fully present when I’m performing those tasks.
I’ll give you an example: on Saturday, my day off, I spent the entire day revamping FMG’s theme and content. It was an arduous, long process, piecemeal, I’d step away for a bit only to come back and alter something else. Yet, when I was done for the day, bleary-eyed and exhausted, I felt like I had wasted my entire day off on nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing?! Is FMG “nothing” to me? Of course not. But somehow I always trick myself into thinking that I could’ve been doing this, that, or the other thing instead. What would I even be doing, though?
A good question to which I never have a good answer.
So, that’s kind of been the vibe this whole week. I did manage to scrape out some pool time on Saturday in the midst of my frantic computer scramble, and the two hours outside was nice. Not quite the beach, but sunshine and water still have a calming impact regardless of the source.
I did get to the beach on Wednesday this week. I decided to take a mental health day from work and drove out to Madeira Beach for a couple hours near the surf. It was quite a windy but beautiful day, and that beach in particular is so lovely and quiet during the workweek. I splashed around in the water intermittently, ate some ants on a log and some grapes, and listened to beachy tunes while sometimes reading and sometimes lying flat on my back drifting in and out of consciousness. As usual, I drove home completely zenned out and relaxed.
Thanks, beach.
Beforehand, I dropped by Elevenses for a banana caramel latte with Ba, and sat at my favorite little pink table. The storefront was super quiet and the barista absolutely nailed the drink, as always. I couldn’t let a Wednesday pass without visiting the shop since I’m never able to get there anymore.
On the coffee front, I also drove over to Willa’s on Monday to try their banana nut latte. I guess I went pretty bananas with my drinks this week, huh?
Hearkening back to my previous point, Monday was another day of feeling completely scattered and unwound. I did plenty, finished all my tasks, but just felt kind of like I was whirling about. I do things and see things but don’t notice them. My therapist often alludes to neurodivergence as a wide swath of an explanation about how my mind works (or doesn’t), but as far as knowing exactly why, I’m a bit stumped. I have good days and bad, and this week I don’t even know if “bad” encompasses the experiences properly, but I wish I could just ground myself and feel engaged.
I feel very frustrated by my troll of a head, the lack of clarity. The only time I really feel dialed in is when I run, but my breath quite literally depends on my ability to keep my attention.
Speaking of run, my workout today was agitating. Headwind ruined me. I shouldn’t be as mad about it as I am since 8-10 mph winds are nothing to sneeze at and will impact my pace regardless of my effort, but dropping from a 7:18 to a 7:27 felt cheap.
Gaahhhh! Hopefully me ranting here will let the icky vibes flow out and leave space for more positivity later.
Good noms from the week: leftover barbacoa with garlic butter noodles (ah, that combo was dandy), ham and potato soup with a buttermilk biscuit for National Biscuit Day, and a turkey ranch sandwich from Supernatural that was underwhelming but still taste.
Hoping for a more settled week this time around. Cheers, friends, talk next time!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A delectably creamy seafood bisque.
…A summery brunch cocktail.
…A no-bake pie I’m redoing because it was shit.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Body spray…Love the tropical vibes of Saltair’s Golden Hour body mist. It has the loveliest toasty coconut scent and gives me a boost when I’m feeling cooped up and blah.
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Strawberry Fields Avocado Quinoa Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Taco Tuesday…Crispy Baja Fish Taco Bowl with Chipotle Mayo
Wednesday…Broccoli “Bacon” Caesar Pasta Salad
Thursday…Spicy Sweet Pineapple Buffalo Cheddar Pizza
Friday Happy Hour…Dill Pickle Tequila Sour
Memorial Weekend Baking…Molten Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Pie
Poolside Sunday…Hot and Spicy Dill Shrimp Rolls
Five Memorial Day Appetizers
3. Hot Honey Caprese Whipped Ricotta
4. Cheddar Ranch Jalapeño Poppers
5. Layered Street Corn Taco Dip
What’s In My Beach Bag?
Week in Training
Monday, 5.11: 9 miles, 11:25 pace + 30 minute upper body
No workout today since I ran hard on Sunday, so easy miles instead. It was hot, I’m not totally used to it yet, but overall I felt really good and in control.
Strength:
- 2 x 10/1 x 8 shoulder press 20#
- 3 x 8 triceps pushdown 28#
- 3 x 12 mid row 50#
- 3 x 10 OH triceps extension 30#
- 3 x 10 ea. split squat 15#
- 2 x 20 ea. banded standing hydrants
- 3 x 12 ea. side lunge press 5#
- 2 x 15 ea. glute bridge
Tuesday, 5.12: 4.55 miles, 11:22 pace + 28 minute upper body & PT
Hot but very nice little run! 148 bpm. Nice to see my heart rate staying low even with the worsening conditions.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 biceps curl 20#
- 3 x 10 incline chest press 20#
- 3 x 10 hammer curl 15#
- 3 x 10 skullcrusher 30#
- 1 x 12/2 x 10 narrow lat pulldown 60#
- 4 x 8 ea. leg extension 50#
- 2 x 12 ea. lunge matrix
Wednesday, 5.13: 9 miles, 9:54 pace + 28 minute mobility
Fun workout today! 4 x 1600 at tempo, hoping this or lower eventually becomes my half marathon pace. I ran 8:10, 8:10, 8:11, and 8:08 as my splits on 75 second recovery. Felt great and the heat didn’t really get to me until the last rep since I forgot to stuff some SaltSticks in my pocket.
Thursday, 5.14: 65 minute elliptical + 31 minute legs
Chill, nondescript morning spin.
Strength:
- 4 x 6 ea. leg press 100#
- 3 x 10 diamond squat 50#
- 3 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 35#
- 3 x 10 ea. lunge with knee drive 25#
- 3 x 8 elevated deadlift 80#
- 2 x 10 kneeling leans
- 3 x 15s ea. banded lunge hydrants 10#
Friday, 5.15: 7 miles, 11:02 pace + 26 minute full body
My legs were decidedly not into this run today. The just felt gunky and stuck, probably because of leg day the prior morning. Nonetheless, I ran my 8 x 100m strides as planned and managed a 5:22 top pace, which isn’t terrible.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 thruster 20#
- 3 x 12 ea. single leg deadlift row 25#
- 3 x 10 OH front lunge 10# SS 10 jump lunge BW
- 3 x 10 ea. revere lunge with bicep curl 15#
- 3 x 15 front raise 25#
- :35 ea. Copenhagen plank
Saturday, 5.16: 11 miles, 11:35 pace
Felt pretty slow on this run and lo and behold, I was slow! I felt fine overall, nice 146 heart rate, but my legs were heavy and just wanted to slog along. A pretty sunrise though!
Sunday, 5.17: 25 minute elliptical
Total running mileage: 40.5
