Week 7 At School, Too

Ugh. The quarter is winding down. But I'm still getting in some workouts. Here's the short and sweet:

Total miles for the week: 7.1
Total cumulative miles: 32.79

   Workouts:

      2/15: 2.8 walk around the lake with Mom + 4 boys

      2/19: 3.2 elliptical

      2/21: 1.1 walk around the park

The weather lately has been unbelievable. The trees are pink and white, daffodils are already blooming, and I don't think tulips are very far behind. Yay! I think this is my second favorite time of year, or maybe it would be my favorite if I could snap out of the winter blahs enough to realize that I should look forward to it. But I mostly find myself daydreaming about autumn. Spring is pretty darned wonderful itself, don't get me wrong. I wish I could figure out how to keep those lovely pink trees around longer, and I think the only solution is to spend as much time outside while they're blooming as possible. So I'm thinking lots of walks are in my future.

In other news, I made these this week, and we now have a new stand-by pancake recipe. Sooooo yummy, so hearty, so easy. I added cinnamon to the second batch, which just put them over the top. They're delish with frozen blueberries, yum with chocolate chips. Next time I think I'll try blackberries. The batter also keeps pretty well in the fridge if you don't eat them all at once. My only complaint is that they were so thick and hearty that they really took forever to cook. Next time I'll turn up my electric skillet-thing.

Week 6 Getting Stronger

I hit up two Pilates classes this week, and was reminded at how big of a difference the instructor makes. The Tuesday morning teacher is great and fixes your form if you're doing things wrong, which I love.

Not many miles to report this week, but I'm still moving forward. I think I'll actually be glad when tax season and school is over so I can have my evenings back. I think evening is one of my favorite times to work out. Well, here's the report:

Total miles for the week: 4.16
Total cumulative miles: 25.69

   Workouts:

      2/8: 1.1 walk around the park

      2/9: Pilates + 3.06 elliptical

      2/12: Pilates

So I bought myself some new headphones with Christmas money, and they're working so much better for me. They hook over the ear and are just the regular flat kind (instead of the "buds" that fit inside the ear). BUT I'm having a hard time with the headphone cord flopping around, which had resulted in my iPod on the ground more than once. (My hands flail and tug at the cord, which makes my iPod tumble. It's sad.) All that to ask: What do you guys do with your headphone cords while walking/running at the gym or outside?

What the Kale Soup

1 T. olive oil

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and black pepper

8 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. pearl barley

1 bunch kale, ribs removed & leaves chopped

4 red potatoes, diced (skins left on)

1 pkg. sweet apple chicken sausage (Alfresco brand), cubed

1/2 tsp. paprika

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add broth and barley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to boil and cook barley for 15 minutes. Add the kale and potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes, until potatoes are almost tender. Stir in the sausage and cook until sausage is heated through and potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 5 minutes more. Serve with crusty bread. 

We had this soup at Christmas, remember? I love it! Yummy and healthy. I think it's true name is something like Barley, Kale, and Sausage Soup, but Dad's name is so much better, don't you think? This is my own version of the recipe I found in the Oregonian.  

A Good 6 Mile Saturday

I've been fair-to-middlin' on the whole workout thing. Lots of walking but nothing else this week. Dad and I did our Noah's trek on Saturday and added an extra 2 miles so we did our necessary 6 miles. It's so much easier for me to walk when it's not rainy. And it's rainy again.

Guess what?! You know how they are building us a new 24-Hour to be completed in the summer? Well, they decided to close down our little gym at the end of February. The closest gym will then be the Beaverton one until the new one is completed. Now I don't have to feel guilty about not going to the gym more often...it's just too dang far away!

6 Weeks til Canyonlands

= AHH!

I'm starting to freak out a little bit - I only have 6 weeks til half marathon #1. I've been doing pretty terribly with increasing my mileage. I've probably done about 10-12 miles the last couple weeks (each week) but I've gotten my treadmill base run to around 5 miles at a steady (read: VERY slow) speed. SO now my goals are to 1) increase my base mileage and 2) increase my speed little by little.

I've still been doing yoga and I even swam last night (amazing) but this week WILL be the week - I want to get back into the swing of thangs. And I would be okay if all you (two) readers out there held me to it and checked in on me. Yes, my work schedule is awful and I'm exhausted after work BUT if I just keep going to the gym and being consistent, I will reach my goals.

One day at a time. I have several options for tomorrow: snowboarding, yoga, cycle, running, swimming. I sure as heck better do at least one.

PS, Let me bear testimony of the importance of changing up your workout-- maybe it's new music or a new workout outfit or a new technique or something, but I've found that if I get variety in my workout, I feel a whole lot better about doing something as monotonous as running 5+ miles on a treadmill staring in front of me at nothing. This week's trick was new music (see my personal blog).

xoxo and happy training!

Week 5 Is anyone out there?

I've started volunteering to do taxes for low-income people twice a week for class, and that's taking lots of time out of my week. My workouts this week were limited, but good. Here's the synopsis:

Total miles for the week: 7.44
Total cumulative miles: 21.53

   Workouts:

      2/2: 3.13 on the elliptical

      2/6: 3.21 run on the treadmill + 1.1 walk around the park

At least I've increased my overall mileage! It was really hard to do 3 miles on the treadmill all at once (and, admittedly, I walked the first little bit and the last lot bit ...), so my goal for the month is to work up to three-mile workouts at least twice a week.

Other good news: I'm down 5 pounds from when I weighed myself before Christmas! I'm pretty sure some is just due to normal weight fluctuations (especially since I dropped two pounds between Tuesday and Saturday workouts), but it's still progress towards working off that school weight. I'd love to drop five more before I have to go work-clothes shopping ...

Are you guys still keeping up?