sidebar | life and training 7.28 – 8.3
Back home and back to the (race week) grind.
We road tripped up to Savannah from Thursday to Sunday last week, returning to home pasture by 6:30 the evening of the latter day. The commute both ways proved pretty smooth, aside from some rude deluges that swept over the interstate near Kingsland/Jacksonville.
Long story short, I think travel has taken on a different vibe for me over the years. I’ve become quite the homebody in general, and am finding that maintaining constant momentum during a trip, plus all the sensory newness inevitably bombarding my surroundings, requires a more measured approach. New places are fun to explore, but with lots of downtime in between adventures. I think I’m becoming more the spa-beach-pool type traveler, with shopping and coffee in between, rather than the go-go-go, spontaneous traveler.
The weather was not kind to us over the weekend, which was a bummer, and it seemed that setbacks occurred in the most random and agitating times. We adjusted, but not without stress on my end. The dumbest part was that the rains, which were predicted from Friday to Saturday, arrived at incredibly inconvenient hours, right when we had in mind to do something very specific.
Oh well. Can’t control that.
We arrived around 5p on Friday, after a very light and easy ride up with a stop at Bold Bean Coffee in Jax for quick cappuccinos and water refills. Upon landing in Savannah we checked into the Marriott Riverfront, which I’d highly recommend to anyone visiting the city. They upgraded us to a riverview balcony – quite the surprise!
After unloading and refreshing we headed over to Hop Atomica for dinner. Very cute venue, but of course their system crashed right when we ordered which resulted in a pretty massive delay. We were pretty hangry, too. I got a paloma, southwest salad, and we shared The Queen pizza and some blistered shishitos. Tasty grub, but unfortunate technological failure on their part.
Friday we spent a half day on Tybee Island. This was probably my favorite side trip of the weekend. We started with breakfast at B. Matthews and travelled out to the beach pretty early since it was scheduled to rain midday. Which it did. We relaxed in the water for about two hours, wandered about the sand to find cool shells, and then got po’ boys for lunch at Pier 16.
We tried to go tour the lighthouse but that’s precisely when the skies opened and dumped right on our parade.
We tried to grab seafood boils at Savannah Seafood Shack, but, what are the fucking odds, there was a medical emergency among the staff and they couldn’t serve any incoming patrons. Understandably. But of all the places this could’ve happened at! We pivoted and nestled in at Boars Head Tavern on River Street for bouillabaisse and peach iced tea.
Last stop of the day was Leopold’s, the famous ice cream joint. We went twice. The line was long but moved quickly, and the first time around I got the Cookies2 flavored. Worth the hype!
Saturday I started to feel the strain of a disrupted routine and bouts of unfamiliar food. This is when I started introspecting about the exhaustive nature of travelling and being displaced from my familiar routines and eats, and mentally the trip started to get hard. I did enjoy strolling over to Savannah Bee Company to buy honeys and the JW Marriott to look at their peculiar, extensive, and beautiful rock collection. One of the oddest parts of the trip but the most gratifying.
We took a hop-on-hop-off trolley tour, but I don’t remember a whole lot of it since my brain was going into freeze mode at that point. Our second conductor was pretty great, however. We got lunch at Crystal Beer Parlor, Greek salad and fries for me.
The weather deteriorated right at the dinner hour, and since it was Saturday the shopping district was slammed and parking was difficult to find en route to our reservation. We had umbrellas, thankfully, but those did not shield us from this utter douchebag of a car that flung up puddle water onto our dress outfits and rendered us both soaked. Definitely dampened the mood of the evening. And then someone stole our umbrella at the restaurant before we left. Cool cool.
Regardless, the fare at Chive Sea Bar was delightful and the cool, jazzy vibe lovely on a rainy night. We shared the steamed clams, and I ordered the banana boat cocktail and the red curry sea scallops. We geared up to order dessert there but the waiter was whisked off for a long period to deal with an EntiREly GlUTEn FreE FamILy and so that kinda spoiled our desire to wait out for the red velvet cheesecake.
But, there was Leopold’s again.
Sunday morning, perhaps because I was relieved that my everyday familiarities were about to return, I felt really good and a bit remorseful that the trip was coming to an end. We visited Origin Coffee Bar for breakfast and cappuccinos. Ba loved the space and I felt really relaxed in there. The coffee was fantastic and I brought home a bag of beans.
On the ride out we spontaneously paused at Capital Bee Co. and bought more local honey. I got the raspberry honey since she mentioned charcuterie boards and I was immediately inspired for my autumn concept.
I’m glad to be back, and also feel like I’ve done some self-reflection and am more in tune with what I need from vacations moving forward. As I said, rest, recuperation, and balance between routine foods and happenings and exploration. I don’t travel the same as I used to and I’m trying to be okay with that! I’m older now and have different needs.
Saturday I’ve got my final 5K series race and I’m honestly fucking done with the distance and ready for my longer soirees. I’ll probably have one or two more 5Ks before the end of the year but they’ll be spaced out and not in this weather. Expectations are low since it’s been 80+ degrees in the early mornings, but we’ll see.
Would love to hear your take on what travel and vacations look like for you nowadays!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A cheesy, tomato-y pizza.
…One last peach cocktail!
…Fun, salty-sweet cookies!
A Few Things I’m Digging
Protein…I picked up a couple single serves of Clean Simple Eats whey protein and wow, it actually tastes really good and has a fantastic texture. They have tons of flavors and honestly I want to try them all.
Popcorn…Loving this Himalayan Sea Salt & Olive Oil popcorn for spontaneous snackage.
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Baked One Pot Broccoli Cheddar Mac & Cheese
Taco Tuesday…BBQ Pulled Mushroom Tacos with Tequila Mango Salsa
Wednesday…Crispy Shrimp Caesar Salad
Thursday…20 Minute BBQ Corn Pizza
Friday Happy Hour…Sweet Peach Iced Green Tea
Saturday Baking…Peaches and Cream Cinnamon Rolls
Sunday BBQ…Warm Burrata and Herb Tomato Bruschetta
Week in Training
Monday, 7.28: 9.3 miles, 9:26 pace + 31 minute legs
Bless the three electrolyte tables I downed through the day yesterday plus the one I chugged in the morning for the efficacy of this workout. I was SO surprised that it went as well as it did despite the 86 temp and 76 dew point. Ran 8 x 1k at threshold and nailed the effort really well: paces were 8:02, 8:02, 7:59, 7:58, 7:57, 7:55, 7:53, and 7:51, with 75 seconds recovery. I took a bit extra after the fifth interval to drink water and stopped briefly during the final interval or water as well, but I do not think that pause disrupted my pace at all and I would’ve hit the split anyway or close to.
Feeling like my stamina is developing pretty nicely and it’ll be cool to see how it plays out in the fall!
Strength:
- 3 x 12 squat to lunge 40#
- 2 x 15 calf press 180#
- 4 x 8 wide stance leg press 180#
- 3 x 16 curtsy lunge 60#
- 4 x 8 ea. sit squat 10#
- 3 x 12 hip thrust 65#
- 3 x 8 ea. eccentric step down 15#
- :30 ea. Copenhagen
Tuesday, 7.29: 4.5 miles, 11:40 pace + 16 minute core
VERRRRRY slow recovery run today, it was 84 with a 78 dew point. Felt fine considering my slow pace.
Wednesday, 7.30: 9 miles, 9:53 pace + 30 minute legs
Did not really mean to run 9 miles this morning but I math’d my route wrong and ended up with a hella long cooldown. Oops. Once again, electrolyte loading the day prior saved my ass during this session and I ended up feeling really good! My legs weren’t turning as much as I’d like, though, so I wonder about that. The workout: 2 x (800/600/400/200), 75 second rest/2:30 in between sets, then finishing with 1k at threshold. Ran 7:28 for both 800s, 7:23 and 7:24 for the 600s, 7:16 and 7:14 for the 400s, and 6:54 and 6:48 for the 200s, then 7:50 for the 1k. Definitely think next time I’ll add another ladder for some more quality 5k specific work.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 ea. split squat 30#
- 4 x 12 sumo squat 60#
- 4 x 10 ea. single leg press 100#
- 2 x 15 ea. skater squat supported
- 3 x 8 clean and press 20#
- 3 x 10 ea. diagonal leg extension 10#
Thursday, 7.31: 12 miles, 11:19 pace
Absolutely appalling out this morning. I don’t like doing a long run after a hard workout day but considering my travel over the weekend I didn’t have much choice. Felt slow and sluggish but happy to have got it out of the way!
Friday, 8.1: 4.11 miles, 10:57 pace
Cozy treadmill run in Savannah! Felt nice and easy and heart rate hung out at 144 bpm.
Saturday, 8.2: 7.01 miles, 10:54 pace + 25 minute upper body
Chill treadmiles to round out the week’s running. I usually do a fast sprint-type workout each week but I did not want to mess with dialing the paces on the treadmill, so I kept with a zone 2 run. Felt pretty good.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 narrow press 40#
- 3 x 12 biceps curl 15#
- 3 x 10 triceps extension 35#
- 3 x 10 ea. single arm row 25#
- 3 x 10 shoulder press 20#
- 3 x 16 deadbug 25#
Sunday, 8.3: Travel rest day
Total running mileage: 45.9
