Last Week’s Workouts and the Wonder of New Shoes

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

For the last few weeks–perhaps even a month–my knees had been feeling achy on runs and long walks. I pulled back on intensity and distance, which helped some, but not enough, and then it finally occurred to me: I haven’t bought new running shoes since April. Those shoes maxed out their mileage some time ago. Sunday night I bought a new pair, and it’s made a huge difference in my workouts this week!

The Brooks Ravenna 4

Here’s what last week looked like in terms of workouts (spoiler alert: I kind of dominated :-D) :

Sunday: Biking- 11 miles (with Andrew… it’s possible that we stopped for ice cream/Italian ice somewhere in the last few miles, but if we did, I assure you it was 100% Andrew’s decision, and I only went along with it for moral support.)

Monday: Running- 30 minutes (debut run for the new shoes!)

Tuesday: Lifting- 30 minutes; Ultimate Frisbee- 90 minutes

Wednesday: Running- 30 minutes

Thursday: Lifting- 30 minutes; Elliptical- 20 minutes (intervals);

Friday: Running- 60 minutes (trails)

I have been a devoted living room weight-lifter for years, but while we were in Jamaica I discovered the beauty of lifting at the gym. The allure is about 15% accountability–I won’t skimp on reps if someone is standing next to me–and 85% vanity–mirrors on multiple walls so I can see my muscles working from different angles? Heck, yes! Pure vanity, but very motivating. I had two great lifting sessions this week as a result, and I’m pretty sure I’m stronger already.

In retrospect I should have taken a day off because we are leaving today to hike and camp for the long weekend! I think today will mostly be driving and setting up camp, with most of the hiking being tomorrow, so hopefully it will give my muscles a chance to rest. I can’t wait to be in the mountains!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

What was your best workout this week?
Weight lifting: living room or gym?
Any big plans for the long weekend?

Youth Group Hike (Dobie Mountain Round Two)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

What’s better than hiking on a Thursday in perfect 75 degree weather? When that hike technically counts toward your work week! (Benefit #2028 of working in youth ministry :-D). All the youth I work with are currently on summer break, so yesterday a group of us went hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Back in May, when Andrew and I hiked Dobie Mountain, I made a mental note that it would be a great hike for a group of youth–nice views, not too long, and not too many steep uphills. Overall, it was a big hit with the group yesterday, though I did forget just how steep one of the uphills was…

We started on the Albright Loop, which is made up of a lot of woods, rocky trails, and switchbacks. At one point, as we walked single-file over a small stream, I heard the boy behind me say, “Ouch!”, then the girls behind him, “Ouch!” “Ahh! Ouch!” and so on down the line. I turned around to see what was happening, and everyone behind me was swatting some insect away from their legs and arms. I told them to keep walking past the water in case whatever it was had a nest there. Once we were out of the ouch zone, I inspected the bites/stings. They looked–and apparently felt–like bee stings, but the victims said the bugs looked like giant mosquitoes. Anyone know what that is?? One girl’s bite was particularly red and puffy, and when I asked if she was allergic to bees she said, “I don’t know. I’ve never been stung!” Oh God, please do not let her have an allergic reaction… We kept an eye on the wounds, and thankfully no one had any serious reaction!

After about two miles, we reached the intersection of the Appalachian Trail. When Andrew and I hiked this, we continued south on the AT; yesterday we decided to hike north for about half a mile to reach an additional overlook.

After resting for a few minutes and enjoying the view, we began hiking south–all uphill at this point–to reach the bigger Glass Hollow Overlook and our lunch destination. I love the sense of awe that everyone inevitably feels when stepping out onto an overlook like this:

But seriously–could this be any more beautiful?

We ate lunch and hung out around this area for over an hour. (Silly me–I thought I would have to convince them to simply be and enjoy the views, but as it turns out, the mountains are hypnotizing to more people than just me. 😉 I kept hearing, “I could stay here all day!”)

We still had a few hours before we needed to drive back to Richmond, and the remainder of the hike would only take us about 30 minutes, so we decided to hike a little further on the AT. We continued for a mile or so, during which I uttered the understatement of the day: That particular stretch of trail was relatively flat, with soft dirt and lush greenery all around us. I said, “This is nice little path we’re on!”, and quickly realizing the humor added, “And by ‘nice little path,’ I mean, ‘the Appalachian Trail.'” Hah! You know… that nice little path that runs from Maine to Georgia. 😉

Our fierce, young hikers

My new friend Juliet who came with us to help and was such a trooper!

We returned to the overlook for one final glimpse, then began the trek back to the parking lot. This is the part of the hike for which I apparently had slope amnesia. When we met back up with the Albright Loop, we only had one mile to go, but the first half of that mile was a serious uphill. How did I not remember that? After already hiking about six miles at that point, we were hurting! Eventually we made it and began the trip back to Richmond.

The original plan was to hike 4 miles–the Albright Loop, plus the short trek on the AT to reach the Glass Hollow Overlook. However, we added a mile to see the first overlook, then about two miles on the AT at the end, bringing our total to roughly seven miles. Not bad! When I started hiking yesterday, my legs and glutes were still sore from the cardio class I took Tuesday night. After all those hills, I am hobbling. 🙂

As always, the hike provided an awesome workout with beautiful scenery to ease the pain. Plus, I had great company yesterday. 😀

Have you hiked anywhere particularly cool lately?

Cardio Extreme

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Last night on a whim, I took a new-to-me class at our gym, and I am feeling it today. We typically play Ultimate Frisbee on Tuesday nights, but when I arrived home yesterday evening, I just wasn’t in the mood. Andrew grabbed a quick dinner and headed back out the door for UF. I wanted to take my time, enjoy dinner, and relax for the remainder of the night.

After eating my perfect potatoes, steamed broccoli, and marinated baked chicken at a leisurely pace, I was bored and regretted staying home. I checked our gym’s group fitness schedule and saw that there was a Cardio Extreme class happening in 30 minutes. Before I could talk myself out of it, I made the decision to go. It was only half an hour; how hard could it be?

Hard. It could be very hard.

I walked up to the door of the group fitness room at the same time as another woman and decided to get the scoop on the class from her.

“Have you taken this class before?”

“Yeah! Have you?”

“Nope! Is it tough?”

“Yeah, this is the toughest instructor. Have you taken this class with anyone before?”

“Haha, no…”

“Oh… well, if you can survive her, you can handle any of the instructors!”

Awesome. 😉

We began with a warm up–jogging around the room, jumping jacks, butt kicks, fast-paced squats–and then moved into circuits. The first round of circuits consisted of jumping rope, high-stepping through a rope ladder on the floor, jumping on and off a step, walking lunges across the room and sprinting back, and skaters. It was fast-paced, and by the second station I was thinking, “What did I sign up for?!”

After the first round of circuits, we did another “easy” jog around the room, jumping jacks, etc., then began circuit 2–mostly variations of the stations from circuit 1. We did mountain climbers instead of skaters, and skips instead of lunges. Finally, we cooled down.

I loved the high-intensity; I pushed myself much harder than I would have if I’d been alone, which is one of the reasons I love group fitness classes! As much as I was hurting in, oh, the first five minutes, the class actually went by very quickly. Afterwards, I knew I’d received an awesome workout, and that’s a great feeling.

As my brother said when I told him about the class, “An intense 30 minutes is wayyyyyy better than a casual hour.” So true.

Have you ever taken a Cardio Extreme class similar to this?
Do you incorporate high-intensity cardio into your weekly routine?

Running Playlist–Need Suggestions!

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

When I trained for my first marathon in college, I made a kick-butt playlist that I listened to on all my long runs. To this day, those songs (plus the taste of strawberry-lime Gatorade) remind me of the early morning in Harrisonburg, VA. I don’t typically listen to music while I run, but there’s no question that it helps me stay motivated and keep pace during a run.

As we move toward cooler weather, I am tentatively planning to run another marathon in December (“tentatively” because I haven’t signed up yet, but I am putting in the runs.) The time has come for another kick-butt playlist to get me through those 18 and 20-milers. I want a fresh batch of songs that will pump me up and years later remind of this time in my life.

I need your suggestions: What are some great songs for my running playlist that are:

a. clean
b. relatively current
c. make no mention of “bein’ in da club”?

I’m open to any genre.

Thanks!!

Buttermilk Trail Hike

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Marriage requires many compromises. Saturday morning, I wanted to drive to the mountains to hike, and Andrew wanted to watch TV for a few hours, then complete some projects around the house (anything to not drive anywhere.) Our compromise: a quick garden clean-up and harvest, followed by a local hike in the afternoon.

The Buttermilk Trail runs along the James River from the Boulevard Bridge to Belle Isle (I know that probably means nothing to non-Richmonders…sorry), and despite being within the city limits, the hike definitely gives you the I’m-miles-away-from-civilization feeling. We started on the north bank of the river (by Maymont,) crossed the foot bridge, and headed east.

Soon we were in the woods and letting out our wild sides:

After about three miles, we arrived at Belle Isle. Well, we arrived at the large rocks beside Belle Isle; we had to do some rock-hopping to reach the island.

From there we crossed the river on the pedestrian bridge…

I ❤ the River City.

…and began walking back on the North Bank Trail. We enjoyed some pretty nice views of the river, Hollywood Cemetery, and fields of ivy. We also picked and snacked on a few blackberries. 😀

While not the mountains, the Buttermilk and North Bank Trails were a surprisingly pleasant local substitute. They satisfied my desire to be outside in the woods with a serious layer of back sweat. Hiking is also my favorite active date, and I loved the quality time Andrew and I had while creating the aforementioned back sweat. 😀 According to Hiking Upward, we covered about 6.3 miles. Not bad!

Have you ever hiked or biked the Buttermilk Trail?
What’s your favorite active date?

Ultimate Frisbee + My New Favorite Squash Recipe

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

I am sore this morning! Last night we played Ultimate Frisbee with friends, and we played hard. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first, dinner.

We enjoyed leftovers from an awesome dinner Monday night: chicken sausages with a potato, squash, and goat cheese gratin. I used this recipe for the gratin (minus the milk and Parmesan cheese; Andrew can handle goat cheese.)

Oh, it was delicious. Squash by itself? Not my favorite. Squash with my beloved potatoes? Oh, yes. This recipe is a winner, for sure.

After eating, we made our way to the University of Richmond to meet the Ultimate Frisbee gang. We went a little bit early so Andrew and a few others could play Spikeball first. I embraced the opportunity to go for a walk through the beautiful campus.

Ready. To. Play. 😉

Last week we had 8 people for Frisbee; this week we had twenty. Rather than play a crowded 10-on-10 game, we made four teams and had a mini tournament on two adjacent fields. We each played one game (first team to score 11,) then the winners played, and the losers played. By the end, we’d all spend about 90 minutes running pretty hard. The teams were beautifully even in terms of abilities, so although we won our games (:-D), both were very close, and there was no time to rest.

After driving home and hobbling from the car to the house, I made my favorite workout recovery meal–a smoothie. This cup contained frozen berries, banana, mixed greens, peanut butter, and soy milk. While this sounds rather strange and is not my typical smoothie combination–I usually use spinach, but we have mixed greens on hand right now, and I usually forego the peanut butter, but I wanted some extra protein–it actually tasted great! And no, I could not taste the greens. 🙂

I love smoothies as workout recovery fuel because they contain carbohydrates, protein, and lots of vitamins, depending on what fruit you include. Unfortunately, none of that is preventing my legs and glutes from being incredibly sore this morning. 😀

What do you eat/drink after a hard workout?
Do you ever play Ultimate Frisbee?

Fitness Apps and Listening to Your Body

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Last week I mentioned that I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app out of curiosity about how my diet measures up to recommended guidelines. Since then I have been recording my food and exercise (on week days), and I have one overarching thought about the app: It’s a helpful tool, but it’s still crucial to listen to your body. Before I go into that, here’s what my week looked like in terms of workouts:

Monday: Running-30 minutes (AM); Walking-25 minutes (PM)
Tuesday: Weight circuits- 30 minutes; Walking-30 minutes (AM); Ultimate Frisbee- 70 minutes (PM)
Wednesday: Walking- 30 minutes (AM); Yoga-60 minutes (PM)
Thursday: Weight circuits (upper body)-20 minutes; Walking- 30 minutes
Friday: Running- 30 minutes

Let me draw your attention to Tuesday. I burned a lot of calories through exercise that day–in the morning I lifted weights and did some light cardio, and after dinner I played a very intense game of Ultimate Frisbee with a group of friends. The game was four-on-four, which means we all did a lot of running (with so few people on each team, you really cannot take a break,) and the only other girl playing (opposite team) was very comparable to me in terms of physical abilities (speed, willingness to crash into someone to catch the frisbee ;-)), so I was giving my all the entire game.

When we arrived back home around 9 PM, I had a substantial snack, but according to MyFitnessPal, I still fell way short on calories (and fat) that day.

(Side note: check out my fantastic protein intake; the only meat I had that day was about 2 oz of pork tenderloin at dinner. Bam.)

Wednesday was a different story, however. I took it easier with my exercise, but I was so much hungrier as a result of the previous day. MyFitnessPal is just a tool and does not recognize that hunger can carry over, so on Wednesday I exceeded my recommended calories, fat, and…well, everything! I think it would have been detrimental to my health to adhere strictly to what the app said I needed–my body knew it needed more.

My point is, this app is a great tool for getting the nutrients you need, but it doesn’t know your body as well as you do. Listen to and honor your body!

Workout Motivation: Strong Over Skinny

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

If I learned one thing from Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in The Silver Linings Playbook, it’s, well, to look for the silver lining in any situation. (Andrew just read that over my shoulder and said, “No, it’s that if you are doing a lift while dancing, make sure you don’t get caught in the crotch.” I’m sticking with the silver lining thing.) One upside to my scary experience Friday is that it has provided excellent workout motivation.

While running on Monday I thought, What would I do if the guy drove up beside me in his car right now? As I pondered the question, playing the scenario out in my head, I noticed I was running faster. I felt the desire to push myself to be in the best shape possible–to be strong and able–so that if I ever end up in a similar or more dangerous situation, I have a fighting chance at defending myself. I don’t want to run simply to burn calories, but rather to be fit and prepared for whatever challenges come my way.

Then I started thinking about workout motivation in general, separate from this specific experience. I think what motivates us to exercise can change from month to month, even day to day. Maybe we do it to lower our risk of a disease that runs in the family, or because we like how it makes us feel (go, endorphins!) Maybe we want to be able to defend ourselves or run a marathon. Maybe we just want to look good in a bikini. There was a time in my life that I valued being skinny over a lot of other things. But what’s the point of that? What good is “skinny,” if you still can’t do the things you want to do? We cannot reduce the value of our bodies to their size.

In recent years, I’ve learned to value strong over skinny.

Why I Workout:
–To be healthy–There are many diseases and conditions that regular exercise can prevent (or at least greatly lower your risk of.) If I can avoid certain heart conditions, type 2 diabetes, and other issues just by going for a walk each day, you better believe I’m going to do that.
–To do what I love—I like to hike; I like to kayak. I don’t ever want to miss out on an activity because I am not physically able to participate (for reasons that are my own fault.) I don’t ever want to be nervous about having to park far away from where I’m going or not be able to explore a new city by foot.
–To be strong–I want to be able to run (more) marathons. I don’t want to say, “That’s too heavy; I’ll wait until Andrew gets home.” If the need ever arises, I want to be able to not just defend myself, but kick someone’s tail.

If I also end up thin while aiming to be strong, it’s no more than a happy byproduct. Thin, in and of itself, holds very little value.

This was actually not the direction I intended to go on the blog when I started writing today, but I’m okay with that. 🙂

What is your non-skinny motivation for working out?

Independence Day, Yoga, and Laughter

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Thanks to everyone–in real life and the blog world–for your kind words about my grandmother the last few days. It’s been great to have what I know reaffirmed through so many: Grandma Tudor was a hell of a woman. For those who didn’t know her, you’ll get to hear more about her in the coming weeks; don’t worry. 🙂

It has been a stressful week. I leave tomorrow for a mission trip with the middle school youth at church, which I am so looking forward to, but there has been a lot to do related to the trip this week. On Wednesday morning, hospice let us know that my grandmother was in her final 24-48 hours. I think the anticipation of her death was, in some ways, worse than her actual passing. I felt like, I am sad, but I can’t start grieving yet because I have too many other things that I need to do that will be much harder to do when I am actually grieving!

As Andrew walked through the door Wednesday evening, he made a playful jab about an email I’d sent him earlier in the day. I immediately burst into tears and said, “I’m stressed, and I’m sad… can you not pick on me??” (What can I say? I am good at articulating how I feel and what I need… even if I word it the way a 6-year old might. ;-))

After dinner that night we went to our yoga class. I’d been looking forward to it as a stress reliever, but I didn’t anticipate all the ways in which it would help. We set up our mats in the middle of the room; some people were already sitting or lying down, meditating. The instructor entered the room and began setting up at the front of the class, but had not started the music yet, so the room was very quiet. As I walked to the closet in the back of the room to get straps and blocks for Andrew and me, I heard a strange noise through the quiet of the room:

fsshh fsshh fsshh fsshh…

I turned around to scan the room. Everyone was perfectly still… except my dear husband, who looked like he was trying to make snow angels on the floor, his socks making the fsshh noise as they moved back and forth. I think from his position, he couldn’t tell how loud or obvious the motion was.

I hurried back over to our mats and whispered,

Andrew! Stop! What are you doing?

The floor is so slippery! They just redid it, and it’s SO slippery!

That’s great… but stop…you’re being a lot louder than you think!

Then we did our best to stifle our laughter. What is it about laughing when you aren’t supposed to that makes it so hard to stop laughing? The harder we tried to stop, the harder we laughed, and laughing is great stress relief. 🙂

(But seriously, we are the worst yogis. Let me apologize now if you ever happen to be in the same class as us.)

On Thursday, after the news about my grandmother arrived and I spent some time crying and talking to family, we decided it would be nice to get out of the house rather than spend the day moping.

We harvested some veggies:

…ate lunch at Burger Bach, by which neither of us were wildly impressed. We were lured in by the gluten-free bun option and grass-fed beef. The burgers come with side salads, which is nice, and you purchase fries and dipping sauces separately. We were turned off by the fact that a small fry comes with one sauce, and if you wanted to try multiple sauces, you have to pay extra–that includes ketchup. Come on… just put the bottle of ketchup on the table; people will still try the other kinds. Also, the cooking options were “pink or no pink.” Well, I don’t want it to be pink, but I also don’t want it charred, which is how my burger arrived. To be fair, I was having a bad day, but don’t be lazy; a “medium-well” option won’t kill you.

After lunch we went to Maymont to see the goats (I’ve mentioned this before, but I really love goats. I regularly petition Andrew to let us get one as a pet.)

Because it was so hot, they had all the animals inside, so unfortunately, I didn’t get to pet them. Still cute. 🙂

That night we had dinner on the river and watched fireworks with our good friends Amanda and Diron.

We love these guys. 🙂

While waiting for fireworks, we laughed about the insane flash on the iphone camera:

😀

It was a great end to a tough day. 🙂

What did you do for Independence Day?

Weekly Workouts–Highlights and Lowlights

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Lately on the blog I think I’ve been focusing more on food (specifically food from our garden :)) and less on fitness. In case you think I have fallen off the exercise wagon, here’s what my week looked like in terms of workouts:

Saturday: Kayaking- 2 hours
Sunday: Biking- 1 hour
Monday: Running- 30 minutes
Tuesday: Weights- 30 minutes (Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30)
Wednesday: Running/Walking- 20 minutes
Thursday: Free Weights- 30 minutes, Walking-30 minutes
Friday: Rest

The Lowlight:
<Warning: I am about to whine.> My quad is still bothering me when I run as a result of that softball game a few weeks ago. I have not attempted any sort of speed work or distance since then, but about 15 minutes into every (slow) run, that quad tightens up like crazy, and I have to stop to stretch (which doesn’t completely relieve it, but it helps for a few minutes.) Then, as soon as I started running Wednesday, my knee began to hurt. I kept it slow and allowed myself to walk, but ended up cutting it way short because of the pain. I have no idea what that’s about! I haven’t had knee problems in years, and I’m a very frustrated with it.

The Highlight:
Kayaking was a blast last weekend! As I’ve said before, I love getting a workout from outdoor, physical activities that aren’t specifically workouts–kayaking, hiking, playing tennis, etc. I love taking a break from the usual workout routine on the weekends to make room for just playing. Kayaking gives you a cardiovascular workout without using your legs (well, you use them some for stabilization, but your arms are doing most of the work), which makes it great for people who are, say, having knee issues from running.

And, because fitness and food go hand-in-hand when it comes to wellness (and because I am in the weird habit of taking pictures of my dinners), here’s our super lazy dinner from last night: Grilled burger patties (made with lean ground beef), steamed broccoli, and Alexia baked oven fries.

Pretty tasty 🙂

What was your workout highlight or lowlight from the week?

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

Category Archives: Fitness