Calendar says October, weather says July.
Happy Monday, all! Holy SHIT it’s been miserable out. I sit here at 7 am peering at dew-crusted glass doors and a forecast claiming a 90 degree high. Insanity. Will it ever end?
Probably in a month. Maybe. If we’re lucky.
This doesn’t stop me from embracing autumnal activities and attitudes. I’ve been wearing this cozy plaid scarf on repeat whenever I go out. I enjoy hot tea and warm cookies most evenings. I switch on the Netflix fireplace and pretend the heat wafting through the air comes from a pile of burning logs rather than the steam from the asphalt.
If nothing else, ya’ll can credit Floridians as hella good fakers. We don’t see color-changing leaves or crisp air straightaway, but we’re damn good at pretending to hunker down. I see plenty of folks at work treating cloudy days like chilly days, garbed in comfy loungewear and oversized cardigans. I planned my outfits this week around key autumn pieces that I’ve bought recently, even though the pumpkin sweater I’m leaning towards one day will probably inspire a stiff sweat after two minutes outdoors.
I finally enjoyed my first pumpkin latte of the season this week! Ba and I wandered to Shortwave for their pumpkin hazelnut flavor, one of my favorites in the area.
On Saturday, I crossed off one of my fall to-dos by enjoying a pumpkin beer with J at Common Dialect Brewing. Never been there before and loved the space, very nicely curated and the beer was good even though I can no longer handle alcohol and only drank half.
Otherwise, I really just worked a lot this week and focused my spare time on equal parts movement and rest. I’m being more intentional with the latter since I’ve come to the conclusion that my nervous system is shot after my accident in June and such is hindering me from reaching any potential I might have with my fitness. Being gentle with my body is not an easy task for me: I’m high energy and feel like a flub when I’m not in motion, though this has improved substantially with my medication.
Rewarding myself with hot drinks and treats is definitely useful in the quest to slow down, however!
Good eats…Loaded broccoi soup (recipe soon!), festbier pretzel, and harvest salad with apples, cranberries, and candied pecans; ginger glazed salmon with broccolini and butternut squash risotto; southwest shrimp salad bowl with rice; ham, fall veggie roast, and toast; a pumpkin streusel muffin with ham and eggs for Sunday breakfast; and a cozy one skillet pesto chicken and rice that inspired one of the recipe concepts I’m testing this week!
That’s all for now. Stay cozy my friends!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…Big chewy STUFFED peanut butter cookies!
…A cozy bourbon smash cocktail.
…A healthy and comforting one-pot salmon and rice meal.
…A pile of plump, soft muffins!
A Few Things I’m Digging
“Your pre-accident metrics belong to a different body”…I’m continually searching for answers as to why running is still so disrupted after my car wreck. One of the bits of advice I read had the above quote, and it resonated with me more than most of the hoo-rah shit I encountered. Like it or not, this is my body right now, and rather than laying stress and blame on it, perhaps I can learn to roll with it until my nervous system feels safe again.
Somatic healing…I’m very interested in this concept since it shows a lot of scientifically-based success for healing from trauma. I’m convinced that a lot of my running issues stem from nervous system overload that never recovered after my accident, so I’m exploring this approach and proprioception work to restore mind-muscle connection and to show my body that it is safe and no longer needs to hold so much tension. I’ve been liking this gentle approach and hope it pays dividends over time.
Notable Food Holidays
Tuesday, 10.6: National Noodle Day (A cozy bowl of Spicy Vegan Kimchi and Mushroom Ramen sounds like just the thing.)
Thursday, 10.8: National Salmon Day (Too many salmon recipes to choose, so check the list below for five of my faves!)
Friday, 10.9: World Egg Day/National Beer & Pizza Day (Keep it seasonal with Buffalo Cheddar Pumpkin Pizza, perhaps paired with a zero-proof Athletic Brewing Fest Brew?)
Sunday, 10.11: National Sausage Pizza Day (Try out my VERY OLD Pesto Sausage and Potato Breakfast Pizza, that I really need to rephotograph…)
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Coconut Cilantro Curry Meatball and Rice Soup
Tuesday…Shaved Brussels Sprout and Chickpea Caesar Salad
Wednesday…Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Thursday…Roasted BBQ Butternut Squash Harvest Pizza
Friday Cozy Hour…Hot Pumpkin Pie Latte
Saturday Baking…Chewy Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oktoberfest Hosting…Fall Fest Cheeseboard + Homemade Festbier Soft Pretzels
Cottagecore Style Picks
Five Succulent Salmon Dinners for National Salmon Day
1. One Skillet Apple Cider Glazed Salmon and Butternut Squash Pilaf
2. One Skillet Rosemary Lemon Salmon and Creamy Dijon Orzo
3. One Skillet White Wine Spinach Artichoke Salmon
5. Garlic Butter Blackened Salmon Scampi with Parmesan Rice
Week in Training
Monday, 9.28: 10.25 miles, 11:33 pace
Weirdest-feeling morning. Had a really vivid dream the prior night and felt like I never fully came out of it until later in the day. I guess folks call this “sleep inertia” and it was hitting me hard even during my session. Ran mostly easy with 6 x 200 pickups every mile for 6 miles, averaged around a 6:30 pace which I’m pretty jazzed with!
Tuesday, 9.29: 3.55 miles, 12:03 pace + 24 minute lift
I think I figured out that, somehow, I threw off my inner ear’s balance mechanisms overnight on Sunday. This would definitely explain my fatigue/disorientation Monday and some odd vertigo and shortness of breath the prior evening. I found an exercise that helps move the calcium crystals back into the proper area of my ear, and this seemed to help tremendously as I experienced no further issues after. Phew! Easy miles, still sleepy but not bad.
Strength:
- 1 x 6/2 x 5 biceps curl 25#
- 3 x 6 banded 4-second pause squats 40#
- 2 x 8/1 x 10 mid row 70/60#
- 2 x 20 ea. banded clamshells
- 3 x 15 ea. elevated bridge 10#
- 3 x 10 lat pulldown 60#
- 50 crunches
- 5 minute mobility
Wednesday, 9.30: 8.05 miles, 10:41 pace + 3.18 miles, 11:01 pace
Another week another failed stamina workout. Wanted 8 x 1k at 7:45-7:55, wound up with 3 x 1k, 1 x 600, then gave up and ran easy. Sucks.
Hit the treadmill for my double run with Little Miss Ba because I just didn’t feel like dealing with Outside. It was fine, though I forgot water so I was pretty thirsty by the end.
Thursday, 10.1: 6.75 miles, 10:20 pace + 25 minute PT strength
Little do-over session because I just wanted to experiment and see if shorter reps were satisfying enough. This wasn’t too bad but that wind was ferocious and definitely impacted me. 1 x 1600 at 8:32, 2 x 800 at 7:56 and 7:58, 4 x 400 at 7:31, 7:32, 7:32, and 7:21 (tailwind), all with :75 walking recovery.
I’m going to switch up my gym workouts to more balance/proprioception/mind-muscle connection, since I have a theory that my nervous system is still shocked and confused even 4 months post-accident. If that’s the case, I need to help make it feel safe again.
Strength:
- :30/2 x :45 ea. single leg balance w weight 5#
- 3 x 10 ea. single leg hop
- 3 x 10 ea. airplane
- 2 x 15 ea. single leg deadlift (slow and controlled) 30#
- 3 x 12 ea. hip dip 20#
- 5 minute mobility
Friday, 10.2: 4.25 miles, 12 minute pace + 16 minute stretch
Much lower heart rate today, 146 average! May have been due to the nose strip I wore overnight and kept on during the run since it miraculously didn’t peel off in my sleep.
Morning stretch focused on full-body, slow movements, deep breathing, and “somatic shaking” which actually felt really good.
Saturday, 10.3: 12 miles, 12:04 pace
79 degrees, 100% humidity, 79 dew point. Absolutely miserable. I didn’t feel as awful as I thought I would, however, which was surprising. I took 4 SaltStick chews at various water stops and that might’ve helped some, as did my Breathe Right strip.
Total running mileage: 48 miles
