Brie Fit

I’m happy to say that I got TWO workouts in this weekend.  Every one is a major victory these days!

Saturday morning, I made it to CrossFit early enough to beat the 107 degree temps we’d see that afternoon. 

It looks confusing, but it was two rounds of doing as many reps as possible of each of those exercise for 45 seconds, as a team of three.  We rested for five minutes between the two rounds.

I feel a little bad doing partner and team WODs lately because I have to do so many modifications, and I can’t really pull my weight, so to speak, anymore.  Luckily, it’s all in my head because everyone is so nice! 

The mods I did for this workout were:

• Lunges instead of parallette pass-throughs
• Burpee step-ups instead of burpee box jumps
• Arm/leg extensions instead of weighted sit-ups

My team and I thankfully avoided a running penalty by doing better our second round than our first!

(I was on team K, J, B, and baby—I guess we had an unfair advantage since we had a fourth team member!)

We spent the rest of Saturday running errands and working on the laundry room painting project that will. not. end.  I bought a replacement knob for the baby’s dresser, we went to Good Ju Ju and did a little antique hunting, and then we  visited The Local Pig for meat shopping.  Tim was very impressed with some meats he’d had from there at a party, so we stocked up!

Everything they stock is antibiotic and hormone-free and most of it is local.  We wound up with burgers, beef tenderloin, rosemary and roasted garlic sausages, and thyme and porcini mushroom sausages.  We grilled the burgers for dinner last night and they were fantastic—can’t wait to try the rest!

Then, this morning, I walked for half an hour on the treadmill despite not really wanting to.

I walked 1.75 miles in half an hour, watching an old episode of 16 and Pregnant on my Kindle Fire.

(I’m not going to lie—during labor, Farrah said, “I’m so glad I kept working out while I was pregnant!” and it was, in fact, motivational to me.  I’m so ashamed.)

I think part of the reason I’m not enjoying walking is because it’s not physically comfortable for me.  After half an hour, I got very crampy in both the ute and the feet and had what I think are probably a few Braxton-Hicks contractions.  With CrossFit, my position is always changing, so if something’s uncomfortable, I can shift out of it quickly…but there’s really no option to find a more comfortable walking position.  I wanted to keep going for another 15 minutes, but it just didn’t feel very good so I stopped.

Something is better than nothing, right?  It’s so humbling to be in a position where WALKING is a challenge.

What were your weekend workouts like?

I have blogged about lots of forms of exercise in my blogging career.  From what I remember, I’ve blogged about:

• CrossFit (duh)
• Running (lots and lots)
• Yoga (took a few classes back in the day)
• Weightlifting (did lots of it solo)
• Swimming (dabbled in lap swimming last year, okay but not my thing)
• Stationary biking (snooze)
• Elliptical-ing (snooze)
• Spin classes (fun!)
• BodyPump-type classes (meh)
• Kickboxing classes (fun!)
• Step aerobics classes (haaaate)

…and probably a few other things I’m forgetting. 

But I cannot, for the life of me, remember ever saying “I am going to walk for exercise.”

This is likely because, previously, I’ve always been in good enough shape that if I’m going to get on a treadmill, I’d need to run to get my heart rate up enough to make my time worth it, at least in my head.  Also, walking frankly sounds boring as shit to me.

But now, I’ve taken up…walking.  For exercise.  Someone write this day down.

Did you even know that we own a treadmill?  Because we do.  We bought it in January, from a friend who wanted to get rid of it, super cheap. 

I’ll be honest, once Tim and friends moved it out of the garage, it took me about four months to figure out where the damn thing even was.  I knew it was in our basement, which I go down to maybe once a month, but not which room in the basement.  (Turns out, it’s in what is now our second guest bedroom.)

So anyway, the point of this post is that because it’s 104 damn degrees outside, and CrossFit is getting harder, and I now have a Kindle Fire with Amazon Prime and HBO Go streaming, I’ve taken up treadmill walking.  Today, I walked 2.5 miles in 45 minutes, whilst watching vintage 16 and Pregnant.

I will be honest.  It was boring.  And also?  It was HARDER than I expected.  CrossFit is so different because you’re never doing the same thing for very long, but with walking, the repetitive motion was very different.  After awhile, my feet hurt, my hips ached, and if I went too fast my belly would cramp a bit.  And I was definitely sweaty and out of breath!

Kind of crazy to think think that I used to pound out double-digit miles at a MUCH faster pace, huh?

Anyway, it kind of sucks, but at this point, I’m just happy to be active however I can.  I’m going to keep up with CrossFit, but this will be a nice little supplement to have, and I’m sure it’ll be convenient to have a treadmill in the house post-partum, too. 

Are you a walker?

CrossFit yesterday…man.  They’ve decided Saturdays are partner WODs, which is fun, but it meant double the work yesterday!  We did TWO back-to-back WODs.

WOD #1:

• Sprint 200m with partner
• Partner “Karen” (150 wall balls)
• Shuffle 200m while passing medicine ball

WOD #2:

• One partner keeps time by going through the “box jump gauntlet” twice, a series of 6 or so boxes of different height.
• While they do that, second partner works on completing:
• 50 push press (52#)
• 100 hang cleans (52#)
• 100 air squats

I don’t remember our times, but we had fun anyway!  I love working with a partner.

Then, in kind of hilarious developments…we bought a treadmill!

Tim’s friend was selling an almost brand-new treadmill for a steal, so we went for it.  Now we just have to figure out how to get it in the house and down to our basement!  I think we’re going to have to recruit a third person, because even though we’re both awesome that shit is way heavy.  We bought it mostly for Tim’s use—his old job had a gym on-site, but his new job doesn’t, so this will be a great way for him to keep up with his running.  I also plan to use it now and then, and I think that when we do have kids it will be a great in-home exercise option when I can’t make it to CrossFit every day.

(And then, after buying the treadmill, we went to Five Guys for dinner.  The irony is not lost on me.)  We also saw the new Mission: Impossible movie, which was pretty good for your basic action flick.

Today, I baked soft sugar cookies, at Tim’s request.

I practiced my (non-existent) piping skills by making them Mizzou-friendly.  They will go to work with him tomorrow!

Now, we’re relaxing away the rest of the evening with reruns of The Wire on DVD and leftover sparkling grape juice from New Year’s Eve.  Fun times!

Do you own any home gym-type equipment?  Do you use it a lot?

I’m officially a much happier panda today.

The temperature has dropped to a much more acceptable 89 degrees, and I got a full night’s sleep last night.  And my left eye has almost stopped twitching.

Phew.

Unfortunately today, today was marked by totally unremarkable eats.

Leftover taco mac and the last of the cantaloupe for lunch.

This snack was pretty baller, though: a Clif Kidz Honey Graham bar with natural PB smeared on top. 

It was like a big smushy graham cracker with peanut butter and I liked it.

After work, I ran another unremarkable three miles on the treadmill.  Snore.

Dinner was a subject of at least 15 emails between Tim and I today.

He took out some ground beef to thaw.  But…I wasn’t really up on the menu planning thing last week, so all day, we had e-mails going back and forth that went kind of like this.

Brie: So, what do you want for dinner?  We could make tiny meatloafs.

Tim: That sounds good.

Brie: Wait, those take a long time, and require the oven.  Nevermind.  What should we have?

Tim: Hey, look at these cute dog pictures?

Brie: Spaghetti?  Burgers?  Tacos?

Tim: Spaghetti.

Brie:  Ooh, what about this fancy unrelated black bean goat cheese quesadilla recipe!  LINK

Tim: We’re out of cumin.

Brie: Dang.

Tim: Spaghetti.

Brie: But I had pasta for lunch!

Tim: Burgers.

And so on, and so forth.  It was maddening.

Anyway, woo for Friday tomorrow!  My brother-in-law will be in town, so we’re planning to see him Saturday, which will be nice. 

Do you menu plan?  How do you decide what goes on the weekly menu?  And what recipes are in your regular rotation?

No post yesterday because I didn’t feel like taking photos.

The highlights?  Lunch with Therese and Chandra at my favorite Mediterranean place, Sahara, and a most excellent 1200m swim after work.

Also, I am working on a big long post celebrating my one-year anniversary of being hormonal-birth-control-free, but figured I should check to see if there’s any interest in reading about my experiences before I go and post stories about my lady business.  So…is anyone curious?  Leave a comment and let me know if you want to read this or if it should remain for ever in my drafts folder, where blog posts go to die.

Today’s lunch was leftovers from yesterday’s lunch, plus a bit of fruit salad and some baked Tostitos swiped from the break room.  (The peach wound up as an afternoon snack, as did a big slice of watermelon.)

After work, I worked it out at the gym with a speedy little 3 mile run in 27:45. 

I’ve been very pleased with my running speed of late.  I’m not really sure why it’s improved—whether it’s a function of losing a few extra pounds, or the cross-training, or if it’s just that I’m not underestimating myself anymore.  But I do hope I can keep it up.  It feels good.

I think part of my problem, actually, is that I get confused going between my outdoor intense hill running pace, which can easily be in the 10:30-11:00/mile range and feel like a max effort, and my flat track or treadmill pace, which I tend to lowball.  I don’t think I realize just how much the hills slow me down, and I’ll set a 10:00/mile pace on the treadmill thinking, “Oh, this is faster than I was outside” and be cool with it.  I need to pump it up even more, because frankly, my 9:20-ish pace today felt…not easy, but not like a balls-to-the-wall effort, either.  You know?

It was stir-fry night for dinner!

One of my favorites—lean round steak, edamame, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, cashews, teriyaki sauce and lemon juice served over brown rice.  Perfect for summertime!

Anyway, life’s about to get busy around here.  My July schedule is (roughly) as follows:

• July 1-4: visit the in-laws in the Ozarks
• July 7-9: Atlanta for work
• July 15-18: Boston for a much-needed weekend with my bestie
• July 22-25: Chicago for half work/half family time

So, lots of travel, and I’m sure I’ll be tired by the end of it, but I’m looking forward to all of it.   I can sleep in August!

Any travel recommendations for  Atlanta or Boston?  And do you want to hear about my experiences sans birth control?

You know, some days just start out good and keep delivering all day long.

Today was one of them.

I’m not going to lie.  It started out this morning with an extremely satisfying zit pop.

Then, I opened my office door to find this delightful little gift on my desk.

Our administrative assistant and I had a deep discussion about the merits of various snack foods on Friday, and I complained heartily that I cannot find small bags of Cool Ranch Doritos in Kansas City.  I refuse to buy a full size bag, because it will be gone in no time flat, which is why I occasionally like the small bags to scratch the itch, so to speak.

Anyway.  She found them.  And brought me one.  God bless that woman.

Today was kind of a munchy day.  I never really sat down and ate lunch, but I just ate bits and pieces of it (and my afternoon snack) all day long.

That small bag of Doritos?  I had the awesome self-control to only eat half of the small bag.  The other half is safely paper-clipped shut in my desk drawer.  Ten points for me.

After work, I was super excited to get back to the gym after a rest week.  I pounded out four miles in the steamy hot gym in 37:40.

More importantly, I discovered what I think *might* be the holy grail.

Running shorts. 

That are cute.

And don’t ride up between my thighs, which will never NOT touch.  Ever.

And right now I am resisting the urge to buy ten more pairs.   (Excuse the food baby.  This was taken post-dinner.)

Specifically, they are the lululemon Run: The Fastest shorts and I want to hug them and squeeze them and pin them to my wall with a big heart around them.

Since I’ve been running, I’ve tried all kinds of shorts.  The only shorts I’ve ever been able to run more than 3 miles in are these lucy Propel Run Shorts, which, while highly functional, are decidedly un-cute, and just kind of point to your legs and say “OH HEY THIS GIRL HAS THUNDER THIGHS.”

The cute shorts ride up.  Always.  Except these didn’t, at all, over the course of four miles, which is a big. freaking. deal.

So.  Ahem.  I’m thrilled about that.

And dinner was another win!

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest last week and could not stop thinking about it.  Hence, Monday night dinner.  And it was so good that we both went back for seconds.  It’s a great weeknight recipe—cheap, easy, usually have the ingredients on hand, and healthy!  We added a little grilled chicken, but it’s also normally vegetarian, if that’s your thing.  Definitely worth a try.

All good days end with cat pictures.

And ice cream.  Which is where I’m going right now.

What was the best part of your day today?

People often wonder why on earth I would run 10+ miles on a treadmill.

Here is why.

Please note the following in the picture above.

• There is no shoulder on the road.
• There is a steep drop-off into a ditch instead of a shoulder.
• There is tall grass that hides snakes in the ditch that is there in place of a shoulder.
• There are hills.
• When there are hills, and no shoulder on the road, a car can come roaring over the hill, not knowing you’re right there.

See also…

Yeah.  Average heart rate should not be 174 for an “easy” 3 mile run at a slow (for me) 11-minute-mile pace.

WI run outside here, I seriously feel like I’m taking my life into my own hands!  There is a relatively safe half-mile loop around my neighborhood, but it gets boring, quickly.  There’s a longer one-mile loop I can do,  but again, I’m bored with it.  I tried being more adventurous today, and it just wound up being scary and way harder than I wanted it to be.   And it was hot.

I can’t wait to move out of this house and hopefully somewhere more runnable. 

Anyway, all I wanted for lunch afterwards was a giant mixing bowl of fruit salad.  And some cheese.

I want to buy a treadmill.  Sigh.

Do you live in a runner-friendly area?

So, no lunch photos today because I was in a meeting.

The options were all in lunchbox format—you know the type, usually a cardboard box with a sandwich, chips, an apple, and a cookie inside, right?

Well, not this time.

I was at the end of the line, and when I got up front, the only boxes left were labeled “salad” and “asparagus.”  I like asparagus, but an asparagus sandwich just….doesn’t compute for me, so I went with the salad.

And they weren’t kidding!  It was salad only.  Not even a roll.  It was a kiddie shoebox filled with field greens, a few mixed nuts, goat cheese, and a tiny container of some kind of vinaigrette.  No meat, no beans, no avocado, no other veggies–nothing of substance.

Granted, it was a good salad, but it was an appetizer.  Not a lunch.  I don’t understand how people eat salads for lunch every day!  I was starving by 2:30.

So I had a nana and peanut butter.

And a Click drink, since I was out of the office for my usual morning dose.

And my latest obsession, a pineapple Lifesaver:

I keep a candy dish on my desk, and I usually buy candy I don’t like to keep my paws out of it.  But I recently determined that nobody else likes red and white striped mints, either, because they’d been sitting in there since Christmas and it was becoming obvious that these were a sign of my ineptitude in keeping up with the candy Joneses.

So I bought some regular fruity Lifesavers.  And I’m eating them.  But only one a day, which is not a big deal.  And I’m eating the pineapple ones first. 

Anyway, after my insufficient lunch, I hit the gym for a run.

I wanted to get outside and run, but it was 93 degrees at 5 pm, and I didn’t have a water bottle, so eff that noise.  This is why treadmills were invented.

Anyway, I ran my speediest 4 miles in awhile—37:52, and it wasn’t particularly hard.  Again, like I said yesterday, I tend to underestimate myself and hold myself back on the treadmill. 

However, it was HOT.  And since I started running in Lululemon tanks, I am spoiled, and I felt like I was wrapped in saran wrap in my old adidas wicking tank.  It was miserable.  I’m hoping the birthday fairy (hint hint hint hint) brings me some gift cards so I can pick up some more, and some shorts to go with it, so I can retire some of my older pieces.

The point of all that was that as soon as I stopped, I shucked my shirt Brandi Chastain-style, all “rawwwr I’m hot and I kick ass”, and then was like, “oh crap, I’m in my sports bra now.”

So I took a picture, like any good blogger would do.

And, I walked the block and a half to my car like that.  Of course, today of all days is when I get stopped to ask directions twice. 

My body is certainly not perfect, but when it’s this hot out, cool trumps modesty. 

Proof that I’m not perfect?  I totally chafed my inner thighs today.  I love these shorts because they don’t ride up, but I can’t wear them for more than three miles.  Maybe someday I’ll find a pair of running shorts that prevents the chub rub but doesn’t look quite as awkward as my current most functional pair of shorts.  (I love them, but they are not cute.)

Anyway, more leftovers for dinner. 

Leftover BBQ, plus sweet potato fries and cantaloupe to cool my mouth off afterwards.

So, even though my salad was mildly unfulfilling, it ultimately DID result in a good workout, so maybe I should just STFU already about salads.  I think perhaps I will pack myself some salads next week and see how it shakes out.

What is your opinion of salads as meals?  Yes?  No?  Under certain conditions?

Today was pretty much exactly what the doctor (read: me) ordered.

I had an early flight (7:30) out of KC, so I headed to the airport, boarded, and quickly fell asleep on the plane.  About mid-flight, I woke up and had a bagel that I’d grabbed at Starbucks.

It was pretty much an ideal flight—quiet, unobtrusive, non-smelly seatmates, and no projectile vomiting children.  I read (finished up Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet—three stars), and napped, and was tended to by a friendly flight attendant who looked like Mama Pea.

Immediately upon landing at LAX, I picked up a grande iced coffee.  God bless per diem.

My good luck continued, as my bag was the first off the plane at baggage claim, and I had a friendly cabbie who didn’t play loud music and used the AC appropriately.

Then, I checked into my hotel, which is super-duper nice.  They gave me my room key, and I went in…and, uh, it was occupied.  AWKWARD.  So I went back down to the desk, and they apologized profusely and gave me a free upgrade to an executive suite instead.  Win!

In case you are wondering what an executive suite is, it is big. 

And comes stocked with my favorite shampoo and conditioner.

And has a toilet more complicated than I care to figure out.

And has views like this:

Dressing room!

I decided to get a workout done with so I could enjoy the rest of my day.  So, I headed to the hotel gym, which was small, but nice, and celebrated National Running Day with a four-mile run and cooldown while watching The Real World on MTV.

It felt great to just sweat and lose my thoughts in the treadmill for awhile.

After my run, I wandered around the Hollywood & Highland shopping area, looking for lunch.  Before I knew it, I was hangry and picked up a chicken quesadilla and chips.  There are a lot of nicer restaurants in the area, but I didn’t want to hit one up in my sweaty workout clothes.

This salsa was fantastic—nice and smoky and hot.  Mmm. 

After lunch, I hit the pool with my Nook.

Unfortunately, it was actually kind of chilly!  I hung out by the pool for about an hour, then went back to my room and crashed on the bed for, um, two hours or so.  Like I said yesterday, I’ve been sleeping like crap at night lately, so my body NEEDED it.  It was fantastic.

After my nap, I headed to a cocktail hour and dinner.   When I go to conferences like this, I try to cover half my plate with salad and/or greens.

I had a delicious Boston lettuce salad, green beans with garlic, and a little bit of turkey, mashed potatoes, spinach canneloni, and bread.  And two healthy glasses of pinot grigio, and a small piece of chocolate cake.

It’s really hard to make PERFECT choices when I’m in food situations like this, so I just try to focus on making BETTER choices than I once would have, you know?  I want to still be able to try things I enjoy—those mashed potatoes with crème fraiche were BANANAS—but I don’t want to totally let it go to pot.

One thing I realized today, when thinking about blogs I like, is that I like pictures OF bloggers, you know, doin’ stuff.  And I rarely attempt to take pictures of ME.  So, I’m going to make an effort.  Thusly, here is a parade of all the different outfits I wore today.

Travel comfort a la Lulu.

Ready to run!

Hitting the pool—bikini + cover-up + residual running sweat:

Post-nap and shower, heading to a casual poolside cocktail hour and dinner:

And, with that, my first day in LA is over.  Tomorrow is going to be crazy—I have conference-related junk from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm—but fun!

In unrelated news, please say a little prayer for Southpaw tomorrow.  She is going in for her dental work and I’m very nervous about it.  She’s been much better the last few weeks, but still not eating reliably (we think because her teeth hurt) and is kind of weak.  She’ll have to be put under full anesthesia and I’m just praying everything goes well and I can finally get my sweet, healthy-eating little baby back.

Did you celebrate National Running Day?  Do you like my dorky self-portraits?

I don’t poop well when I’m away from home.  It’s true.

But first: can we talk about something awesome?

So, remember how Bubs went on a sleepover last weekend?

The adopters had a dog that was very nervous around him and they thought it wouldn’t work out.

But then they missed Bubs terribly last night and called their vet to discuss it.  The vet assured them that anxiety can be treated with behavioral modifications or medication and, hell, just time.

So this morning, Bubs’ dad came running into my office, saying that they’d made a terrible mistake and that they’re ready to work with their doggie to make them a happy family.  We’re bringing him back to them tomorrow morning

I’m going to miss the little stinker, but man, I am happy he’s going to his forever home.  His new mom and dad and doggie friend are really wonderful and I know he’ll be very happy.

(sniffle)

I couldn’t even fit my whole lunch in one picture.

Egg white sandwich, carrots/cukes and double hummus, grapes, pineapple, and a Fage Blueberry (on sale!).

I kind of forgot that cucumbers are another vegetable I find inoffensive and picked one up at the store.  I hope that a liberal dose of hummus and repeated exposure will help me actually like them.  Lord knows I can suck down pickles like a champ.

I picked up some excellent (read: not super healthy) trail mix at Target yesterday.  It’s called Monster Mix and has peanuts, raisins, M&Ms, and PB chips.

After work, I did 4 easy miles on the treadmill in 39:07 while watching Lost.  (Please tell me it gets more interesting?  It’s good, but I’m 4 episodes in and it’s just kind of meh so far.  I’m not riveted.)

Dinner was stir-fry.

Brown rice, chicken, carrots, garlic, cashews, teriyaki sauce and zucchini.  (I shredded the zucchini with my microplane grater and it was kind of invisible.)

As a blogger, it’s pretty much my civic duty to present this Public Service Announcement:

150 calories for a serving and it is insane.  In.  Sane.  Buy it, now.

(Ben & Jerry’s also came out with a Red Velvet Cake flavor, but it has a lot more calories per serving.)

Oh, and also, I’m going to Nebraska tomorrow.  AND you will get a Very Special Post in the morning.  Spirit  fingers!

Who is your favorite TV chef?