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!

Sharing the Harvest + Weekly Workouts

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

“Honey, we should share some of this produce with our family and friends.”

You know the look an eight-year-old gives you when you tell him he has to stop playing video games with his friends and clean his room? That is precisely the look I received from Andrew yesterday when I uttered those words. It was a mix of, “Are you really speaking English right now?” and “I cannot even believe how unfair you are.”

“Share? We can freeze it! How are we going to store up for the winter if we share?“

Family, friends–we are working on it. 😉

As it turns out, Andrew’s reluctance to share only extends to the zucchini because he loves it, but he is more than willing to part with some of the other veggies. On the flip side, I am happy to hand out zucchini to anyone walking by the house because 1. I don’t love it, and 2. We have so much of it! The photo above is today’s harvest, which includes three zucchini totaling 4.5 lb. Each one is seriously bigger than my forearm. Also today we picked three cucumbers, one yellow squash, and about 10 oz of cherry tomatoes!

Here’s our haul from a couple days ago:

Cucumbers (which are now in the process of becoming pickles!), fantastic peppers, even more zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and the coolest looking, most delicious tomato I’ve ever beheld (<–That sounds like an exaggeration simply because I used the word “beheld” in reference to a tomato… it was very tasty. ;-))

The goodness just keeps rolling in.

In other news, I am rebounding from my cold that developed last weekend. I’ve been limiting my workouts this week to easy walks, yoga, and light weight-lifting. Yesterday afternoon I was feeling mostly better, so I went to the gym to do intervals on the Elliptical. I pressed through–10 minute warm-up, 10 minutes of 30 seconds hard/30 seconds recover, 10 minutes of moderate intensity, 5 minute cool-down–but during the last bit I felt exhausted, and not in the I-just-had-a-great-workout kind of way, but in the I-don’t-feel-well way. I probably should have given myself one more day to recover. Oh well.

I have a busy day ahead–my family is coming in town this weekend for my grandmother’s memorial service, so in addition to work, I need to do some house cleaning, and, uh, finally put on paper what I want to say at the service tomorrow. I have been thinking about it, but putting off actually doing it because I know I will need a few boxes of tissues just to write it.

What’s on your schedule for the weekend?
Do you workout when you are sick?
Zucchini: love it or hate it?

Lemon-Thyme Chicken & Vacation

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

I may have reached my threshold for squash. With the zucchini and yellow squash growing so quickly in the garden, we have cooked a meal with them about once a week and eaten the leftovers for at least one other meal. Don’t get me wrong: we are growing some delicious squash…I just might need to encourage the bell peppers and broccoli to grow a bit faster for the sake of my taste buds. 😀

I used this recipe to cook dinner last night, and taste-tester Andrew gave it two thumbs up. Our modifications: instead of couscous, we cooked brown rice in the rice cooker, we used chicken tenderloins because they were on sale, and we added minced garlic to the squash saute.

The chicken was really good. We will most definitely make this again… perhaps with another veggie. 🙂 Andrew loved the squash, and I certainly didn’t have any complaints about the taste. As I said earlier though, I think I have reached my limit, so I just wasn’t thrilled about it. Luckily, we have lots of leftovers to eat tonight. 😉

After dinner we headed to the gym. I sweated for 40 minutes on the Elliptical–including 10 minutes of intervals–while Andrew lifted weights. We booked our summer vacation on Sunday night (we are going to Jamaica in August!!) and I think as a result we are both feeling motivated to put in some tougher workouts. 😀 An evening stroll around the neighborhood, a Sunday afternoon leisurely bike ride are great for general health and basic fitness, but we are upping the intensity for the next month or so in order to get ourselves in fantastic shape for the Caribbean. 😀 I am SO excited.

What are your vacation plans for the summer?
Is anyone else tired of squash yet? 😉

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?

Bike Rides and Bee Hives

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

Sunday morning, Andrew embarked on day two of kayaking. Assuming he would be gone for a while, I decided to go for a solo bike ride after church and rode to a nearby park to enjoy the trails. We’ve biked the trails at this park before, but for some reason I was struggling yesterday! The ride to the park was fine, and the wider paths were no problem. One particular stretch of trail was so narrow and uphill, though, that my Garmin kept switching to the “auto-pause” mode, meaning I was riding so slowly it thought I’d stopped. Hah!

One of the wider trails in the park 🙂

Try to picture this: I’m pedaling very slowly, uphill, navigating between trees and over roots, and up ahead there is a large stick on the path. Let’s say it’s a small log. It was about 3-4 inches in diameter–no big deal if I’d been going downhill or at a decent speed–but uphill at a snail’s pace? That thing was going to bring my bike to a complete stop. I decided the only thing to do was pop my front tire over the log. As I did so successfully, I congratulated myself aloud with an enthusiastic, “YES!”…at which point I noticed a woman walking and looking right at me, not ten feet away, on the paved path that winds through the park. She definitely heard me, and I can only imagine what she must have thought.

😀

I ended up riding about 9 miles in just over an hour, which means I had a few pretty fast miles going to and from the park to balance those really slow miles in the park. 🙂

When Andrew returned from kayaking later that afternoon, he decided to mow the grass while he was still gross from the river. (If you aren’t familiar with the James, it is a very dirty river. I stopped Andrew just in time a few times this weekend from sitting on the couch in his dry, but river-funky bathing suit.) I had cleaned up from my bike ride and was upstairs getting ready. About five minutes after Andrew started mowing the grass, I heard the lawnmower stop. Then I heard the front door knob turn. I knew it was locked, so I went downstairs to let Andrew in. By the time I got there, he was walking in through the garage. I asked if everything was okay, and Andrew, with as much calmness and little emotion as if he were telling me the weather forecast said:

“I think I ran over a beehive with the lawnmower.”

“Oh no! Did you get stung??”

“Yeah.”

With that he bent down and lifted the bottom of his pant leg, and two yellow jackets flew out! I would have been freaking out. Andrew’s attitude was like, Eh, yeah, there are some bees in my pants. Whatever.

Thankfully he was only stung once. (He did clarify later that the bees were trapped around the ankle of his pants and not just flying around his legs. I feel a little better about that.) I walked outside with him to investigate, and we saw bees swarming around a few holes in the ground. The grass in the part of the yard remains uncut for now.

Bee sting aside, we had a great weekend!

What did you do this weekend?
Have you ever run over a beehive with a lawnmower?

Kayaking on the James

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

On Saturday afternoon, Andrew and I pulled out the kayaks for the first time this season. The weather was warm, but mostly cloudy, the river level was high, and we knew we were in for a good afternoon. But before removing the kayaks from the garage, we had one of those arguments about nothing. When we bought the house, Andrew built a pulley system on the ceiling of the garage to store the kayaks (perk #107 of marrying an engineer.) We currently use our garage to store lots of things that are not cars, so in order to get the kayaks down without dropping them on anything, we needed to turn them as we lowered.

Andrew: “Okay. I need you do hold the center of the kayak and rotate it as I lower.”

(The kayak is still at head level for me, and I have to lean over a work bench to reach the center. Andrew lowers one side so I have some more slack to work with. A watering can is knocked off a shelf after a failed attempt to turn the dang boat. Andrew gives me an exasperated look.)

Catherine: “I’m trying! I don’t know what you want me to do!”

Andrew: “Turn the kayak so it’s facing that way!”

(Something else is knocked off a shelf by the hanging kayak.)

Catherine: “I can’t do that from the middle! I need to pull it over from the front!”

Andrew: “Then do that!”

We lowered the kayak to the ground, and the argument–more of a discussion with raised voices–blew over as quickly as it started. 🙂 Do you ever have arguments like that? Ones in which you are frustrated with a situation but take out your frustration on another person? I am definitely guilty of it… and I have a feeling I’m not the only one. Still, I probably need to work on that.

We loaded the kayaks on top of the car, and headed to the riv-ah. We started at Huguenot Flatwater; Andrew dropped off me and the boats, drove downstream to Pony Pasture, dropped off his car, and biked back to where I was.

There’s not a lot of river between the two spots, so we paddled upstream for a bit before going down. The river was really high, and the “beach” where we usually stop and eat lunch when kayaking was mostly under water.

We explored the land, paddled around for a while, then eventually headed downstream. Other than feeling a few drops of rain from the upcoming storm, the weather was great–warm, but not hot, overcast, but not completely grey. There is a dam along that stretch of the James, with plenty of warning signs instructing boaters where to get out of the water and walk.

Just after the dam…getting back in the water!

The best part of the trip was the end. Pony Pasture has lots of rocks and rapids, so it was more exciting than a gentle downstream paddle. Andrew, the more seasoned kayaker, led the way, and I followed at a distance through the rapids. When I encountered the first rapid, my boat went entirely under water–still upright, but fully submerged. Once we made it through, I told Andrew, “I am soaked!” He laughed and said that he was as well. When we took the boats out of the water, however, he compared the two and said, “Whoa… you took on a LOT more water than I did!” I will have to work on my rapid-navigation skills. 😉

We ended a great day with dinner on the back porch–beet greens & kale, polenta, and chicken sausages with a rosemary-mustard sauce that Andrew created:

Andrew is back out in the kayak today with a group of coworkers! They are attempting a longer, more rapid-filled stretch of the river. I am going on a bike ride for as long as the rain will hold off (the sky looks threatening at the moment…)

Happy Sunday!

What’s been the highlight of your weekend so far?

Squash, Tennis, and Homemade GF Cookies

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Something tells me I will need to find an abundance of new squash recipes soon…and that something is that our zucchini and yellow squash are growing faster than the weeds surrounding them! Yesterday we harvested (and ate) three, and we have three more that are ready to be picked today.

Aren’t they beautiful? 😀 It is unbelievable how fast zucchini grow. This particular one increased its size by almost 1/3 literally overnight. We checked on it yesterday morning and thought, “Whoa! Where did that come from?!”

For dinner, we kept the squash prep simple–sliced, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried thyme, and roasted in the oven.

…Plus baked pork chops and brown rice noodles with garlic and basil. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don’t love squash, but this was actually very tasty! Again, I am fairly certain food tastes better when it’s homegrown. It’s not too late to buy a few vegetable plants! 😀 You can grow them in pots, and you wont regret it.

After dinner we went to a local public school to play tennis. My quad is still giving me trouble from our softball game ten days ago–fifteen or twenty minutes into my runs, it starts feeling really tight and achy. I was happy to do a non-running cardio workout!

My husband has skills.

We played for just over an hour, and as we were driving home, Andrew reminded me of my promise to bake him something. Wednesday afternoon I’d baked a few desserts for a meeting at church, and when Andrew got home the house smelled like cookies, but there was nothing he could eat, so I promised to bake him something gluten-free and delicious on Thursday.

There’s a decent selection of gluten-free all-purpose flours and baking mixes these days, but the best stuff we have come across is Arrowhead Mills GF all-purpose flour. The first few times I baked with it, I double checked the box to make sure the flour was GF after tasting how good the final product was. More than once I did that! We have even served GF baked goods made from this brand to our friends without them being able to tell they were GF. That’s the true test. 🙂 Anyway, these chocolate chip cookies, made using Arrowhead Mills GF all-purpose flour, did not disappoint. I’d need to do a side-by-side taste test, but I think I prefer these to regular chocolate chip cookies. We may have eaten seven between the two of us (it’s okay… we eat our veggies too :-D)

Now, I’m off to pick some more squash before they grow too large to eat!

What’s your favorite squash recipe? Do you have a gluten-free flour that you really love?

Staying Active Without a Gym + Weekend Stuff

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Last week I did not go to the gym. Not once. And yet it’s Monday morning, and my legs are still a bit sore from the week’s activities. When we joined a gym a few months ago, part of me thought, “Why are we doing this? We don’t need a gym…” While the gym is very helpful in staying healthy, it is far from necessary, especially now that the weather is warmer. Here’s how we stayed in shape last week, outside the gym:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Spikeball with friends Michael and Lisa (PM)

Wednesday: Running- 30 minutes, intervals

Thursday: Weight circuits in living room (AM,) Ultimate Frisbee (PM)

Friday: Running-60 minutes

Saturday: Shopping with Andrew (his legs are twice as long as mine… I practically have to run to keep up with him ;-))

Sunday: Frisbee Golf

It was a week full of Andrew’s ideal workouts–those in which you play. I have grown to really enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee; it’s like a sneaky speed workout with lots of sprints over the course of ninety minutes. Plus, the game itself is a lot of fun, running aside. When I woke up Friday morning, my legs felt good, despite lots of prolonged sprinting the night before, so I decided to proceed as planned with my long run. I am trying to be disciplined about building up my mileage, and I did not want to change my plans for potential soreness. The run was a success, but as the day went on, my legs became sorer and sorer (<–is that a word? More sore?) Saturday, it was just embarrassing 😉

Friday night we went to dinner and played putt-putt with our friends Amanda and Diron. Andrew won, I lost by a long shot (or I guess, a series of short shots ;-),) and Amanda and Diron landed somewhere in between. We had a great time!

Sorry for the blurry iphone photo…

On Saturday we went on a quest; we’d been feeling the need for deck furniture ever since this happened back in April:

Kitchen chairs and TV trays… classy 😉

We checked a few stores before finally finding what we wanted at Target. (Is there anyone out there who does not love Target? I have yet to walk in the store and walk back out without spending at least $50. It’s a beautiful place.)

Aren’t those chairs fun?? Andrew was so excited to find a tall set. That evening, he went to a baseball game with a friend, so I had the night to myself and was eager to use the new patio furniture. Every now and then it’s good to have some “me-time.” For dinner I made bruschetta with french bread, fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil from our garden, all heated in the toaster oven.

I have since decided I might live on this food combination for the remainder of the summer. 🙂

Dinner + new magazine + Mike’s Hard Cherry Lemonade in a wine glass to look more sophisticated (hah!)… excellent 🙂

Sunday afternoon we played Frisbee/disc golf at the University of Richmond. I’d played once before, but determined yesterday that this game is an excellent compromise for Andrew and me: it’s essentially taking a walk with a competitive objective. I don’t know the history of the game (and for the sake of what I’m about to say, I’m not going to take five seconds to research it ;-)), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it started when a wife dragged her husband on a long walk through a park; suspecting he might be bored, he brought a frisbee, throwing it as they walked. From there, the only step is adding a few targets.

We had a great time until a thunderstorm rolled in and ended our game early.

And, as usual, Monday arrived too soon. Have a great day!

How do you stay in shape without a gym? Do you ever incorporate “playing” into our workout routine?

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

Tag Archives: cardio