Back To Basics: Week 2

I did it...I had another perfect week!  That's not to say that all the workouts were perfect (because they weren't), but I didn't skip any of them.


Monday:
After 6 days of workouts, this was much appreciated.  I squeezed in a call to my bike guy about that awful creaking sound, worked until about 6-6:30, came home, scarfed down some leftover spanakorizo (I swear I'll take a picture the next time I make it), did a little laundry, played with the bunnies, and crashed hard.

Tuesday:
1000 yard swim.  This wasn't easy, but I felt pretty good in the water.  I think my body is slowly remembering how this whole swimming thing works.  The key word here is S.L.O.W.  I'm not fast in the pool, but I'm okay with that.  I'm hoping that all this base building leads to less open water freakouts once I get to that point.  After the swim, Mr. R&R and I were both starving so tacos were on the menu again.  Perhaps Taco Tuesday will become a thing around here?

Wednesday:
My arms didn't ache when I woke up this morning!  Yes!  Tonight's scheduled workout was supposed to be on the bike, but I swapped it with Thursday's run workout because I am scheduled to work very late on Thursday (no chance of walking out of the office before 7pm) and I know there's no chance in hell that I'll be willing to leave the house and run after that.  It's been quite frigid here, so I headed over to the indoor track for 3 miles.  It took a solid 2 miles to get warmed up/used to the cold, dry air, but my 3rd mile was encouraging.

The hamster on the wheel goes 'round and 'round

Thursday:
By the time I got home from work, I was ready to eat all.the.things.  I had picked up sushi from the place down the street from my office, but it had to hang out in the refrigerator while Mr. R&R ran and I hit the bike for 45 minutes.  I took a few extra minutes to implement Brent's suggestion of how to make the awful creaking noise stop - and it worked!  The workout may have only been 45 minutes long, but I was dripping sweat inside of 10 minutes.  It was composed of 4 intervals, each 7 minutes long - designed to improve both muscle endurance and pedaling economy.  I did my best to match my wattage and cadence to what was on the screen, but it was tough! When it was over, the sushi was devoured at an alarming rate.

Friday:
Note to self: Friday night is rugrat night in the exercise pool.  My gym is adults only, but they allow family swim for a couple hours on Friday night.  Fortunately, the kids are relegated to the small exercise pool.  There was a handful of people in the lap pool, but we were each able to get our own lane and I banged out my 1000 yards.  I was even slower than I was on Tuesday night, but I was pretty pleased with how I felt again.

On the way home, Mr. R&R and I were both hangry.  If you've never heard that term before, it's that feeling of being so hungry that you become angry and snappish.  Obviously this situation called for dinner - fast!  We debated going home, getting cleaned up, and going out to dinner, but it was already 8:30pm and going out would have meant waiting at least another hour+ to eat.  We swung by Trader Joe's, grabbed a few things, and headed home and into the kitchen.  I dealt with chopping and Mr. R&R manned the grill pan.  We were eating delicious fajitas in under 30 minutes - and for less money and fewer calories than we would have had we gone out.

Steak and Chicken Fajitas

 Saturday:

One word to describe today: Busy.  Mr. R&R had a meeting with a personal trainer (they throw in 2 sessions when you join) and while he was out, I ran around to pick up coffee, groceries, and all the crap we needed from Target.  When I got back, we unloaded the car, put all the groceries away, changed into bike clothes, and hit The Cave for another 45 minute sweat/suffer-fest.

We crawled off the bikes, hurried through showers and getting all dressed up, and stopped to pick up one of my coworkers on the way to a somewhat mandatory work event.  It was a nice party (chilled crab claws on the buffet and open bar with designer cocktails), but by 10:00pm we were both struggling to keep our eyes open.  Lucky for us, my coworker was ready to call it a night as well, so we excused ourselves, dropped her off at home, and we crashed as soon as we got home.

Sunday:
Sunday = Run Day.  I really didn't want to run this morning.  It was cold, my legs were really tight, and the gravitational pull of the couch was insane, but I knew that the only thing standing between me and another perfect week of workouts was 30-ish minutes outside.  After some coffee I piled on the layers (fleece-lined tights, wool socks, 2 shirts, fleece jacket, mittens, ear band, and hat) and headed out the door on a 2 part mission.  Part 1: Get My Run In  Part 2: Stop at the crappy grocery store on my route and pick up green onions (my usual grocery store didn't have any on Saturday).  The first mile wasn't fun, but the second sure was - it was downhill and at sub-9 pace.  I darted into the grocery store, grabbed my onions, jammed them in the inside pockets of my fleece, and hauled my ass uphill for a mile - while hoping I wasn't steaming the onions in the process.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Time: 29:03

Avg. Pace: 9:23/mile

Mr. R&R and I scarfed a late brunch of eggs and chicken apple sausages before getting started on all the laundry/cleaning/food prep we needed to do.  He took over laundry duty while I hit the kitchen.  This week I made Ambitious Kitchen's Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread (made exactly according to her recipe), Skinnytaste's Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup (modifications: left out the celery, used full-fat freshly shredded sharp cheddar, skipped the American singles), and Iowa Girl Eats' Mongolian Beef Noodle Bowls (modifications: used broccoli slaw instead of coleslaw mix).

The Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread came out great.  I ran all the numbers and it comes out to just 207 calories per slice (assuming 12 slices per loaf).  This will be consumed as a pre-workout snack.

I'm a soup snob - or at least very particular about soup - and the Potato Broccoli Cheese soup tastes exactly like a baked potato topped with broccoli and sharp cheddar.  That just happens to be one of my favorite ways to top a baked potato, so I was happy.  It's approximately 275 calories per bowl, so it will be perfect for Mr. R&R and I to take for lunch early in the week.

The Mongolian Beef Noodle Bowls were kind of a project to make - lots of careful timing, searing in batches, etc.  I'm very happy that Mr. R&R joined me in the kitchen for this one.  The finished product was incredibly un-photogenic, but tasted phenomenal. My only complaints were: A) The rice noodles were a little gelatinous (I think they got a little overcooked ) and B) The rice noodles and sauce were a pain in the ass to clean out of my wok.  Overall though, I'd make this recipe again and I look forward to having the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night.

All my food prep is done through Wednesday morning and it's time for some bunny nose bumps and bed!

Week 2 Totals:
Swim: 2025 yards (1.15 miles)
Bike: 18.71 miles
Run: 6.28 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, 43 minutes