sidebar | life and training 5.19 – 5.25

It don be scorchin’ out there.

Happy Monday! And, I hope you hoes are enjoying the long weekend – if you have one. I don’t, but I always have a quasi-extended weekend since I’m off Saturdays and Mondays but work Sundays (and Sundays always feel like a fever dream so they don’t really count).

Either way, if you’ve the extra leisure time, I hope you’ve done well with it. Our weather is heating up FAST and, at least among the folk I talked to, the beach and pool or amusement parks were the predominant activities. I wouldn’t touch Disney or Universal with a ten thousand foot pole over these past few days, but some of ya’ll have bigger balls than I.

Or you have demanding kids.

Saturday was a really lovely day, however. I’ve noticed this year our pool area has been extremely crowded – most middays the patio is pretty quiet up until 2-3 o’clock, but I’m venturing to guess that our younger demographic influences the outdoor traffic increase. The water is bordering on unpleasant (bathwater) but there might still be a few pleasant days to eek out before I avoid going outside completely.

We passed a quiet afternoon eating sliders (recipe coming soon) and resting from our respective long runs, then moseyed over to Motorworks Brewing for pizza and beer. Cute little spot! I had the vegetable pizza and the orange wheat ale and both were fabulous. Then a treat at Chill Bros: I got the Belgian brownie flavor and he chose the key lime pie. Saturday cones are my favorite new summer tradition.

Earlier in the week Little Miss Ba and I visited DI Coffee Bar. I haven’t been there in SO long. I like their coffee but the space is pretty dark and stuffy compared to the brighter environs I’ve preferred of late. Either way, we enjoyed a cappuccino and a black and white cookie outside and met a cute new friend who sat so nicely and calmly behind us.

5K training is going pretty well still, though I did end the week with a big glute medius cramp that I’ve been trying to work out with a baseball for a few days now. This area gets tender quite often when my training ramps up and so long as I catch it early I’m usually able to punch it out and prevent shit from getting worse.

The first race in my summer 5K trio is in three weeks, so I’ve still got quite a bit of time before shit gets nitty gritty. I still think a 7:25-7:30 is reasonable (especially considering how good 7:55-7:57 felt today as a threshold workout, like I could sustain it for another 10 minutes or so) but it’s always hard to say how I’ll respond to the heat on race day.

A couple meals I enjoyed this week: taco rice bake and pineapple BBQ shrimp skewers, loosely based on my Pineapple Maple Chipotle Shrimp. Served the latter with some rice and a chopped salad of lettuce, tomato, avocado, and balsamic. Yumbo.

That’s about it methinks. Hope your short workweek goes well! Though sometimes the truncated ones feel the most arduous. Perhaps, though, that won’t be the case for you.

The Fuck We Cooking This Week?

…A fabulous and easy picnic-friendly sandwich.

…THE MOST FUN FUCKING COOKIES YOU EVER DID SEE.

…A light and refreshing fruity lemonade.

A Few Things I’m Digging

Toast…My night snack of choice lately: wheat bread, peanut butter, banana, and a few chocolate chips. Nothing innovative but sits in my tummy well and quells the ever-present evening sweet tooth!

Maple syrup…Okay, this is gonna sound weird to some of you. I usually take a Honey Stinger gel on my longer or harder workouts, but Thursdays have been a shorter sprint day that still require a bit of fueling. Lately I’ve taken to knocking back a tablespoon of maple syrup before my runs. I think it helps. Maple is pure sugar and blows quickly into my energy systems, and I have noticed a bit of a bounce compared to when I run fasted.

Ice cream…At least for now we’re trying to make it a weekend thing to visit Chill Bros for ice cream cones. Summer requires ice cream and it’s nice to have this date pinned in as something to look forward to every week.

This Week’s Menu

Meatless Monday…Creamy Garlic Caprese Pasta Salad

Taco Tuesday…Crispy Buffalo Jackfruit Tacos

Wednesday…Korean-Inspired Spicy Tempeh Lettuce Wraps

Thursday…BBQ Onion Pizza

Friday Happy Hour…Fresh Mango Lemonade

Saturday Baking…No Churn Espresso Kahlua Ice Cream

Sunday BBQ…Grilled Honey Chipotle Lime Shrimp with Mango Avocado Salsa

Shops & Wish List

Fashion

Quince…Loving some of their new dress styles. This button front dress and gauzy tiered maxi dress, namely, and both would be fun with these leather mule heels.

Week in Training

Monday, 5.19: 8 miles, 10:02 pace + 35 minute legs

Holy shitwad was this hard! I’m really proud of this workout: I desperately wanted to quit after the 5th rep due to the headwind roughing me up tremendously, but instead I allowed myself to turn around for the final rep and accept the help of the tailwind. 2 x (3 x 600m) at 3k effort + 4 x 100m fast. Planned for the first three 600s to land between 7:10 and 7:15 pace, and the final 3 7:00-7:10. Two minutes rest between reps, 4 minutes between the 2 sets. Hit all but one interval: 7:13, 7:10, 7:11, 7:10, 7:16, and 7:07 for the 600s, then 6:42, 6:20, 6:13, and 6:20 for the 100s. The cooldown was HARD and my legs were donezo but I am so happy with my mental grit despite the circumstances.

Strength:

• 4 x10 deadlift 100#
• 3 x 8 ea. split squat 50#
• 3 x 10 front squat 60#
• 3 x 20 walking lunge 40#
• 3 x 12 ea. single leg bridge 20#
• 3 x 15 ea. single leg hops
• Leg burnout + forearm stands

Tuesday, 5.20: 4 miles, 11:21 pace + 30 minute upper body

Very slowwww recovery miles this morning. Started at an 11:51 mile and scootched down to a 10:56. Hopped on the elliptical after work pre-lift to get the legs spinning and the motion felt really nice!

Strength:

• 3 x 8 ea. shoulder press 25#
• 3 x 10/1 x 6 bench press 30#
• 3 x 10 biceps curl 20#
• 3 x 10/1 x 10 triceps extension 35/30#
• 4 x 6 row 40#
• 3 x 15 stability ball hamstring curl
• 3 x 10 ea. sit squat
• 3 x 12 Russian twist 30#

Wednesday, 5.21: 6 miles, 10:27 pace + 30 minute legs

80 degrees at 4 am. Fucken delightful. Regardless, this workout went way better than expected and I think I may even have been too conservative with the number of reps. 2 x (3 x 300) with the first set at 2K effort and the second at mile effort. 2 minutes between each rep and 4 minutes between sets. Ran 6:45, 6:45, 6:40 in the first set and 6:36, 6:37, and 6:37 (which I think is incorrect due to GPS inconsistencies in that area) in the second. Very happy with the turnout!

Strength:

• 3 x 12 jump lunge 30#
• 3 x 12 ea. single leg deadlift 50#
• 2 x 10 ea. eccentric step down
• 3 x 16 step out squat 40#
• 3 x 12 ea. single leg squat 20#
• 3 x 15 ea. under knee dumbbell pass 10#

Thursday, 5.22: 5.25 miles, 11:05 pace + 30 minute core & stretching

8 x 50m max sprints today. Felt really smooth and controlled despite my poor sleep the night before and some soreness from yesterday’s workout! Ran a 4:24 max pace and clocked my first sub-10 minute interval. Pretty cool!

Strength:

• 3 x 10 weighted pushup 10#
• 3 x 15 triceps dip 25#
• 3 x 18 calf press 180#
• 3 x 10 swing 70#
• 3 x 8 situp 20#
• 3 x 20 cross mountain climber
• 3 x 16 deadbug 20#
• 3 x 30 plank shoulder taps
• :30 Copenhangen plank/side
• Stretches + 15 ea. hip rotations (each direction)

Friday, 5.23: 3.18 miles, 11:00 pace

Typical Friday recovery run, bouncing between 5.4-5.6 mph (11:06-10:47). Heart rate averaged a measly 138 bpm!

Saturday, 5.24: 11.01 miles, 10:54 pace

A bit more wheezy than I’ve felt recently, and my legs never quite woke up properly. Nonetheless, an okay run and it was a bit less human too.

Sunday, 5.25: 2.5 mile walk + 25 minute easy elliptical

Total running mileage: 37.4